‘Meggy’s mother left years ago. We’ve moved house twice since then, and she’s not the least bit interested in Meggy. If she really did want to see her, she could have just asked. She knows I wouldn’t ever stop her from seeing her daughter.’

Baarda stepped forward, hands at his side. Connie was impressed. Too many police officers intervened in heated situations with their arms up, palms forward, which without fail made people feel even more aggressive.

‘We’ll obviously do our best to trace Meggy’s mother if you’ll give us her details, Mr Russell, but we have to consider wider options.’

‘None of this is helping. Do you have cars out around the city looking for my daughter? You should be closing all the roads within the city and checking every vehicle. Why are we standing around talking?’ Meggy’s father was ashen and shaking.

‘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.’