1. INED told me the number of boys drowning between the ages of 10 and 14 years. INSERM told me how many of these commit suicide or die in accidents, divided by regions of France. Neither of these could give me further details about the individuals involved, nor could advise how to progress. Now I am not sure that Maurice died by drowning. Perhaps the references to floating, water, etc. are literary rather than literal.

2. I visited a private detective, who told me about ESDA (a special technique to investigate the paper). I have not yet followed this up.

3. Evian told me the bottle was manufactured between October 2001 and the finding of the bottle, March 2002. The contact assures me she cannot discover where the bottle was sold, but I feel a visit may inspire her to check further, and I intend to go there.

4. News databases, as used by financial institutions, and the internet, have yielded no useful information.

5. Part of the first paragraph and the last paragraph uses lines from a Kevin Costner film, ‘Message in a Bottle’, released in 1999.

6. I read through the Nécrologie for Voix du Nord, for May and June for 1995–2000. No luck. I also read June 1995 for the following papers: ‘Ouest France’, ‘Paris-Normandie’, ‘Nord-Éclair’ before becoming discouraged.

7. I tried to get access to death certificates, but it seems these are not held centrally in France. I was told each mairie holds its own records, and permission is needed from the Procureur de la République to access these.

8. ‘Analyse en bulbologie capillaire.’ Unfortunately there are no roots to the hair, so he is unable to progress.

9. Graphologue. She has provided psychological ‘insights’ but no concrete information, other than that the woman is not very young, and not very old (maybe 35–55 years old).

10. Clinical psychologist. Says that the mourning period for a mother/child loss is at least two years.

11. Lifeboats at Sheppey, where the bottle was found. The captain suggests it could have been thrown in locally, or somewhere like Margate or Norfolk – but since the bottle was not for sale in the UK, I am dubious. Possibly thrown in from a cross-Channel ferry. From Dieppe eastwards, the current would be amenable, with a North-easterly wind. Oostende would also be possible. Further west, Cherbourg etc, the current would take the bottle in the opposite direction. The letter-writer says she will throw the bottle in ‘au large des côtes’.

C What I would like to ask from you?

1. You mentioned a central register of deaths. Can one check if there is a record of Maurice’s death? I am quite prepared to sit and trawl through the years, and to be discreet about the source of information, if this is possible. This seems to me the most important thing.

2. Your deputy mentioned a database of dead people’s DNA. Could one check that for Maurice, or check it against the DNA from the hair I have? But if it is only from the last 18 months, maybe that will be useless?