Craig was already running the name through various databases, and Lolly rolled her chair close to watch.

‘You don’t happen to have an address for Lauren?’

‘No,’ said Abs cautiously. ‘As I say, they ain’t seen each other for years, since they were kids. I don’t think he thinks of her as family, really, not since she…’

Sasha’s shoulders tensed. ‘Since she what, Abs?’

‘She beat him up when they were kids, pretty badly he said, and that’s why they were separated. This was before he met me, so I don’t know much about her.’

‘So you have no idea where she would be?’

‘No,’ said Abs. ‘Why would I? She moves around a lot, I think – she’s one of them crusties now, into squatting and that. Look, what’s this about?’

‘As I say, we’re just doing a little fact-checking, filling in some background.’ She pulled a face at the obvious lie. ‘Thanks so much, Abs, that was very helpful.’

As soon as she disconnected the call, by picking up the handset and dropping it again, the members of her team drifted back to their desks. Craig continued tapping gingerly at his keyboard, looking up Lauren Weston on various property and vehicle databases.

Sasha tried to catch up on some other work, writing reports about a fraud case that had been limping along for months, and an attempted murder in Benfleet. At lunchtime, she popped out to get a sandwich and a Diet Coke, and when she returned, Craig walked over with a tablet computer in his hand.

‘Lauren Weston,’ he said. ‘She’s been charged with a number of public order offences, at climate change and animal rights protests. She chained herself to railings at a fashion show and was arrested during scuffles at a demo against intensive farming, an anti-meat thing.’

‘No match on the DNA database?’ she asked hopefully.

He eyed her sandwich. ‘Not a sausage, but there’s a Lauren Weston on social media, Twitter and Instagram, although she goes by the name of Lore now. She posts a lot of political stuff. Refugee and environmental issues, squatters’ rights, stuff like that.’

She took the tablet from him, spreading her fingers on the screen to increase the image on Lauren Weston’s Twitter profile page, @LoreWez123; but it was of a pink koala bear. ‘You think it’s her?’

‘The age fits with what we know of Jez and his sister, and the squatters’ rights thing is a red flag.’

‘What about an address?’

‘A woman called Lauren Weston applied for social security benefits, and put her address as a house in Colchester, which is currently being used as a squat. I’ll mail you the address.’