‘No one connected with Beacham though?’

‘He’s not on social media. Bizarrely,’ Gary said.

‘I’m not on social media, what’s bizarre about that?’ Adrian asked. He had been thinking about joining, for about ten years now if he was honest. He just didn’t want to get sucked into that world. He heard all the conversations in the station of things people did online and he was utterly baffled by it. It made the world feel so much smaller. So he stayed away from it. Maybe now Tom was a bit older he might consider it so that they could stay in touch.

‘Couldn’t he just be on there under a fake account? Or a parody account or something?’ Imogen said.

‘He could.’ Gary nodded.

Gary pulled up a picture someone had taken of a person asleep in the lecture hall. Adrian spotted Russ Beacham sitting in the background, staring ahead.

‘There he is – if he is in lessons with these people, then maybe this is the circle of people we need to focus on.’

Gary pulled up a few more pictures from the same social media account and from accounts linked to it. Nothing.

At least they had seen him once, that was a start.

The time passed slowly, and it became increasingly difficult to stay focused. A picture of some girls with Caitlin popped up and it was like a kick in the face for Adrian. Gary skipped past it to the next. It showed the same girls, only this time, Caitlin wasn’t with them, she was in the background talking to someone. It wasn’t Russ Beacham, but Adrian knew the face.

‘Wait!’ Adrian said before Gary skipped past. ‘I’ve seen him before.’

‘The guy talking to Caitlin? Where?’ Imogen asked.

‘Here. He was in here for something. Something really minor.’ Adrian tried to think back to when he had seen him. ‘Driving over the limit.’

Adrian stood up. It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Was this kid the missing link? He remembered his countenance at the time of his arrest. He hadn’t seemed particularly fazed by the experience.

‘Can you remember when or what his name was? Or do we have to go through all the drink-driving offences?’ Imogen sighed.

‘Give me a second. It’s on the tip of my tongue.’ Adrian closed his eyes, searching for the name of the student that had made enough of an impression to secure a place in his memory. ‘Finn. Finn Blackwell.’

‘I’ll pull up his file.’

Moments later, Gary pulled up an image of Finn Blackwell and put it next to the image of Caitlin with the young man. It was the same person.

‘Do you have an address for him?’ Imogen said with a mouthful of bagel. She stood up and put her coat on, ready to go.

‘We had better speak to the DCI first. Appraise her of the situation,’ Adrian suggested.

‘She’s got an early meeting with the press, so she went home. We can’t wait until then. Finn Blackwell is either dangerous or in danger. I’ll tell Matt to let her know. We need to pick him up now,’ Imogen said. ‘Does Blackwell have any priors, Gary?’