By early afternoon, Saltern-le-Fen police station seemed to have stepped up a gear. People moved about with more purpose. Phones rang and were quickly answered, and messages were relayed with more urgency.

Jackman ticked boxes in his mind. To start with, the follow-up had not gone smoothly. Davy’s parents had been difficult to locate — the father worked on a building site up county and the mother was a hospital theatre nurse. Both were now on their way to the station. Box ticked.

He was upset at having missed Laura. He couldn’t stop thinking of the haunted, anxious look she had worn. His calls went to voicemail and his texts went unanswered. Finally, during a short coffee break, he managed to get hold of Sam.

‘She’s just got in, Jackman. She rang and told me she’d had an emergency call to Greenborough, but it turned out to be a false alarm. I’ll call her for you.’

‘Hold on, Sam.’ Jackman quickly explained what was worrying him. ‘I don’t want to hassle her. Could you talk to her, and if it’s anything to worry about, ring me?’

‘Of course. Leave it with me.’

Jackman ended the call a little easier in his mind. Sam would keep him updated.

‘Boss?’ Marie stood in his doorway. ‘Max and Charlie are wondering if they could go and have a word with Natalie Miles. They’re working on what’s connecting the women to Spiller, and since it’s her nephew who was taken, they’d like to talk with her in person. Plus, she’s been very close to Davy over the years, he still rings her every week. He might have shared something with her that would be of help to us.’

‘Good idea. Tell them to go immediately,’ Jackman said. ‘Then would you ask Gary to go downstairs and get an update on the hunt for Spiller’s vehicle?’

After Marie left, he looked again at Spiller’s application to do voluntary work at the school. He rang one of the numbers on an official-looking letterhead. He found himself listening to an answerphone message telling him that all their operatives were busy, but if he’d like to leave his number someone would get back to him as soon as they were free. It sounded genuine enough, as did the letters of introduction. Then something began to nag at him. All this had taken time, it had been meticulously planned and set up. Which meant that Spiller knew all along that it was Davy he wanted, and if that were the case, why break into those other houses and steal photos of boys he wasn’t looking for? Why steal the picture from Natalie Miles if he was in the middle of planning that very boy’s abduction? It didn’t make sense.

Jackman thought about those other boys. Then, cursing himself for his stupidity, he rang Annie Carson.