Everything happens so quickly on television it’s easy to forget that in real time there are no editors there to cut out all the surplus and leave it on the cutting room floor. I wait for a good hour before a team turns up to dig the body out of the ground. I heard the officers talking; they needed a specialist to do the excavation to preserve evidence. There is no one even remotely equipped to deal with a job like this nearby and at this time of night. It will probably be a few more hours before a formal identification is made and I wonder if there is any way I can get closer without being seen. What am I even doing here? I should get on a plane and get as far away as humanly possible. I have a passport with me. Would anyone even miss me at this point? The fact that Chris still hasn’t called just proves how well everyone does without me. I don’t know who or what they might find in these woods. I don’t know if it will link back to me in any way. The thought of being questioned by the police makes me feel nauseous.

I sneak closer to see if they know anything, to see if I need to run again. I can’t hear any conversations; maybe it’s time to call it a night. I start to walk back to my car, an uneasy feeling following me – but that’s nothing new.

As I get closer to my car I can hear the rumble of a vehicle but I can’t see it. Is it even possible that I recognise the sound of the engine? I start to walk faster, sure that there is someone there. There is no parallel road here so the car must be behind me. I can see no headlights. I feel the panic rising and instead of walking faster I duck behind a tree and wait as the sound gets louder, closer. There on the road is an old brown car, just like the one they said went past on the night Mandy Green went missing. It’s shrouded in darkness so I can’t quite see who is driving. I know this car though, or I think I do. I have been drinking; can I even trust my eyes? The car rolls past and I wait behind the tree until I can hear nothing again. The blue lights still thump against the sky in the near distance, but the road is empty again. I get back in my car and pull a U-turn. I can’t investigate anything like this. I need to sleep it off.