‘We’re going to show Melanie some photos of different cars, to see what we can figure out about the make and model,’ DC Champion said. ‘She didn’t notice the number plate.’

‘Young people usually don’t,’ Connie said. ‘Adult witnesses often miss vital information about an offender or the mechanics of a crime because we’re all so conditioned by TV to get the licence plate. Often, that’s been tampered with or stolen and doesn’t help at all. I think the details Melanie’s been able to recall by not focusing on the licence plate will prove much more useful.’

Melanie gave her a shy smile of thanks. ‘Actually,’ she added, ‘about the number plate … the reason I didn’t get it was because it was covered with mud. Like really covered, all over.’

‘Clever girl,’ Connie said. ‘One last thing. Did you hear anything in particular when he drove away? Anything about the car and how it was moving?’

‘Um, no, and I was listening carefully, because I wanted him to leave and not come into the library. I was still worried he might have noticed me.’

‘So no squealing tyres or revving engine? Nothing like that?’

‘Nope,’ Melanie said. ‘Nothing like that.’

Connie gave her a nod. She was pleased to see the mother still holding her daughter’s hand. Parents reacted oddly to children when they were forced to interact with any type of official, whether that was the police, or doctors, or a school administrator. Melanie would be scared for a while, and she was going to need her mother to reassure her. Someone had kidnapped a kid, and when the media broke the story, every parent within a hundred miles was going to be freaked out.

‘You did great. I’m going to leave DC Champion to look at those car pictures with you then hopefully you can go home. If you feel stressed or scared, it’s important to ask for help. It’s normal. Don’t you keep that bottled up, okay?’

Tears appeared suddenly in Melanie’s eyes.

‘I’d better go have a chat with DI Baarda. The information you’ve given will definitely help,’ Connie said. She exited the library to cross the car park and join a group of officers stood around a crying woman and a man with a face that encapsulated all the tension of an unexploded bomb.

‘Are you normally late collecting her, Carmen?’ the man demanded.

Older than Carmen by several years and by multiple style generations, they made an odd couple.

‘Because if you’re always this late, then someone could have figured out that she’s always kept waiting out here,’ he finished.

‘Don’t you dare do that. You’re not going to make me feel guilty about this. Maybe Meggy’s mother finally turned up and decided to try her hand at a bit of parenting,’ the woman screeched.