‘Wherever she’s going she’s bringing her daughter, Bella. Dionne the nanny is away for the weekend and mentioned that Peppa had various things planned with her.’ I was flicking through our surveillance photos of Peppa, Dionne and Bella. I looked at the dolly clasped in Bella’s hands. I’d never seen her without it. It was in every surveillance photo.

‘Dolly,’ I announced.

‘What?’

‘Bella’s dolly. She takes her everywhere with her. We find a replacement and stick a tracker inside it.’

Hattie nodded. ‘Do it.’

I looked at Geraint and Pixie. ‘We need to source an identical doll by this afternoon so it’s ready in time for tomorrow morning’s WAF meeting.’

Pixie’s fingers were flying across her laptop.

‘DollyWorld stopped making this type of doll last year. But there’s one on eBay from a seller in Hoxton. I can get a courier to pick it up within the hour.’

Pixie pressed a few buttons and the Hoxton dolly image was projected onto the whiteboard alongside the real dolly.

I assessed the two photos.

‘Bella’s dolly has clearly been through the washing machine countless times. And look here – the hem of her dress has come undone. There’s a small hole in the hood. And there’s one patch here that seems to be the most faded of all – that must be where she rubs it. It has to be perfect. Gigi can spot a fake Monkey a mile off. There’s no way of knowing this little girl won’t be the same. Soon as it arrives you need to get to work on it.’

A ping came in to all of our phones. An Uber alert. George Pig had requested an Uber and Robin had accepted the job.

One of Eight’s preferred method of securing targets for interrogation was through waiting for them to book an Uber and then sweeping them back to Platform Eight in a modified car with unlockable passenger doors and soundproofed tinted windows. Or in this case taking them to whichever destination they inputted, safe in the knowledge there was no greater way to know where your target was going than by being the person driving them there.

‘The destination is the corner of New Cavendish and Harley Street,’ read out Hattie.

‘Asia House is on New Cavendish Street,’ said Geraint.

‘He’s either going there or they have a designated meeting spot or safe house close by. Lex, get to Asia House. If he goes in there we can presume he’s the Snake. G, Pixie, start checking CCTV of New Cavendish Street in the last twenty-four hours. We need to know if anyone else we recognise has been there.’

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