‘Call me old-school, but I prefer to hold the actual file. Maybe we can find the daybook Hannah was working from too, or anything where she’s written something down.’

‘Everything would be in her daybook; Child Protection are hot on that. They’re treated as sensitive too, so she would have needed to archive it when she left the department. Archived books are stored at Folkestone for two years, then moved to storage for the next five. The paper file will be there as well.’

‘Folkestone it is then. Can you call the property store on the way? Save waiting around while they find it.’

‘You in a rush to get away?’ DS Rose asked.

‘The source handling team Hannah was with finish at four at Nackington. We’ve still had nothing out of there, so I want to see if I can’t up the pressure a little, maybe give them something that’s harder to ignore.’

‘You can’t get anywhere near them, not if they don’t want to let you in. I don’t think there’s anywhere more secure than the source unit.’

‘I know that and I know you think my background isn’t massively relevant for working investigations, but I did bring one useful skill over from my time on the TSG.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Getting through a closed door.’

Chapter 44

Joel felt jaded. Maybe a month away from police work had made him soft and was the reason he felt so tired, or maybe it was the five minutes of non-stop beating on solid wood. He was on the ground floor at Nackington and the door now stinging his knuckles was barring access to the source unit for the Eastern Region: Hannah Ribbons’s last place of work. Her direct supervisor was a Sergeant Alan Miles, someone Joel didn’t know. The internal duties system told Joel that Alan Miles had been due off at 4 p.m. and it was now close to 5 p.m., but a lifetime of knocking on doors for wanted people had given him a sixth sense. There was someone in there. And Joel didn’t like being ignored.

‘ALAN! ALAN MILES!’ Joel bellowed at the door, ‘I SPOKE TO ONE OF YOUR TEAM, I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE. I’M NOT LEAVING, SO IF YOU WANT TO YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO TALK TO ME.’ Joel stopped to push his ear up against the solid wood to see if his lie had prompted a response and was just about to start his next assault when he heard a noise the other side. He stepped back as the handle dipped and the door pulled in just enough for a full and tired-looking face to appear, its cracked lips pouting their disdain through a full beard.