‘Not by name. Burman said Becky was very perky yesterday morning. When Jayne asked why, Becky said she had a lead on someone connected to the Church to follow up on, which might prove interesting.’

‘That’s got to be Meade,’ Boon said.

Barnes nodded. ‘It certainly looks that way. Even more so now we know Meade left his office at around the same time. What did Becky’s editor have to say?’

‘He and two others confirmed Becky left just after two,’ Boon said. ‘She said she was following up on a lead and would be out for a couple of hours.’

‘I take it she has a car?’ Barnes asked.

‘Yes,’ Stanley replied. ‘A red 1972 Citroën 2CV, with a black canvas roll-back sunroof. I’ve already circulated the registration Met-wide and to the surrounding county forces. I also contacted Becky’s bank. She’s made no withdrawals or card purchases. They’ll notify us if she does. I’ve got a recent photograph of her from her flat.’

‘Contact our press office at the Yard,’ Barnes said. ‘Give them a full description; what she was wearing when last seen and details of her car. Get a patrol car to drop her photo off as well. I want it on the six o’clock news, TV and radio, and in all tomorrow’s papers. Can anyone think of anything else we can do to locate her?’

Jane made a suggestion. ‘This is a long shot. We could contact the Public Carriage Office to get the word out to the black cab community. Tell them we are looking for any cabbie who picked up a man outside Archbishop’s House yesterday afternoon who fits Meade’s description.’

‘That’s worth a try,’ Barnes said.

‘I’ve got her address book from the flat. We could ring round all her contacts. See if they know anything,’ Stanley said.

‘Share it out amongst the team to make it quicker,’ Barnes replied. ‘How’s PC Rogers?’ he asked Stanley.

‘Frantic with worry and wishing he’d never told his daughter about the post-mortem. As a cop, he knows the prospects of finding her alive are not looking good. He’s at home comforting his wife. I promised we’d contact him as soon as we have any news – good or bad.’

‘I’ll phone him in a minute and tell him about Meade’s suicide, as well as what we’ve just discussed.’

Barnes’s phone rang. He picked it up and had a brief conversation before ending the call.

‘That was Lloyd Johnson. Dr Pullen just attended the scene. She did a cursory examination of Meade’s body and found no marks indicating he had been in a struggle. She also thought the bruising and cincture marks on his neck were consistent with Meade hanging himself.