‘The first thing we need to establish is that Meggy hasn’t simply gone elsewhere, become bored of waiting or decided to go to a friend’s house. There’s no firm evidence yet that an abduction did actually take …’ Connie caught his eye and raised her hand flat, fingers outstretched, dipping it left and right – maybe, maybe not. ‘… place.’ His voice trailed off. ‘Just give me a moment.’

Connie began walking away from the group, leaving Baarda to catch up with her, where they couldn’t be overheard.

‘What did the witness say?’ Baarda asked.

‘She heard raised voices, a man and a girl. Sounded like an argument, but she couldn’t make out the details. Then everything went silent. He didn’t drag the girl into the body of the car, though. That was the librarian summarising during the 999 call. Your witness says the man dumped something in the boot, and she got the impression he was having to put pressure down before he could shut the boot. We have a good description of him, less so of the vehicle. Muddy number plate, dark paint, blue or grey. The man looked around before driving off, presumably to see if anyone had witnessed the event. Drove off slowly, though, no obvious signs of panic, which if you’ve just stashed a girl in the boot of your car is unusually controlled.’

‘How credible is the information?’

‘Teenage girls are too often passed off as hysterical or attention-seeking. Something sounded wrong, so she checked it out, and she saw behaviour that made her feel scared. She didn’t embellish or dramatise. I believe her.’

‘Doesn’t mean it’s Meggy Russell. There could still be other explanations.’

‘Any of which would require a coincidence at this moment. One girl thinks another has been kidnapped. Independently, parents turn up to collect a child who isn’t where she should be.’

Baarda sighed. ‘Okay. We’ll put out a general alert, distribute Meggy’s details. I’ll get officers checking out Meggy’s known friends in case she was reporting any concerns. We’ll also need to access her social media, see if she’d made contact with anyone suspicious online.’

‘I’ve done all I can. I’m going to Angela’s house. I need to go back into the first crime scene, immerse myself in it, figure out what it was about Angela that attracted her killer. You coming?’

‘I think they need my help here,’ Baarda said.

‘I think they do, too,’ Connie said. ‘Watch the woman – Carmen. The father’s expressing distress and upset through anger. Carmen’s just pissed off at getting the blame. Not sure I’m seeing much real emotion there.’

‘You think she might be involved?’ Baarda asked.

‘It’s not that, but she doesn’t genuinely seem to care enough about Meggy, so maybe she was regularly late to pick her up. If that was the case, you’ll need to check for suspicious activity in the area going back a while. I’d guess that someone was watching the family home as well as the school.’