‘Good man yourself,’ Duggan said, taking a bottle of Coke from Barr who had returned from the shop. They had all taken up seats at the picnic table next to where the car was parked. The sky was grey, leaden, though the sun had broken through in places, gilding the edges of the lower hanging clouds. The rush of traffic barrelling along the road nearby was overlaid with the shouting of children playing in a small outdoor play area the restaurant had provided.

‘Everything OK? Barr asked.

‘We think your uncle should be there,’ Duggan said. ‘We’ve chatted between ourselves and we’re not going any further unless he meets us at the woods.’

Tony saw Karen bristle a little at the use of ‘we’, though she said nothing. Instead taking a series of small sips from her bottle of water, she focused on the grain of the wooden table at which they sat, tracing its swirls with her finger.

‘He won’t; he’s busy,’ Barr said. ‘That’s why I’m here.’

‘You’re here to drive us, son, no offence,’ Duggan said. ‘Your uncle was the one ordered it. It’s only right that he should be there.’

‘He’s not here, though,’ Barr said, looking around as if to evidence his uncle’s absence.

‘But he’s here in Scotland. He’s in Glasgow, giving a talk. There’s nothing stopping him. He could be at the woods before us, the way we’re travelling.’

‘Uncle Sean doesn’t know where Kelly is,’ Barr said. ‘Not exactly. If that’s what this is about, there’s no need for him to be there.’

‘He may not know where he is, but he knows better than anyone why he’s there. He was the one gave the final order for Kelly to be–’

An infant, perhaps no more than three years old, had toddled over to where they sat, a doll held up in her small fist. Duggan smiled at her, pantomimed surprise. ‘Isn’t that a lovely doll,’ he said to the child, who gurgled her delight at his attention.

Tony turned to see where her parents were and saw a harried couple standing at the entrance to the play area. The father was in his twenties, the mother in her late teens. Their other child, a twin of this girl, Tony guessed, had wandered into the park and was attempting to lift his leg high enough to climb onto a rocking horse on a thick spring coil.

‘Fuck’s sake,’ Barr said, moving away from them and taking out his phone. He moved out of earshot, perhaps for his own dignity.

‘What’s her name?’ Duggan asked, glancing at where Barr went, taking the arm of the doll in his own huge paw as he did so.

The girl said something which Tony could not catch, just as the mother realised where her daughter had gone and came rushing up towards them.