‘Ha!’ Porter gave a low sarcastic laugh. ‘I’m not so sure that he liked the fact that we were still chasing Bolton, but I told him that Reid was already looking at the camera when we were warned off. Not much he can say to that.’ He stopped short of sharing Campbell’s warning of the dressing-down looming once Bolton was in custody. He’d take one for the team and keep Styles out of it. No point in telling him. Styles would only try and take his share of the blame.

‘So we’re good to go?’ said Styles.

‘Yep. Let’s get cracking. There’s a million and one things to organise for tomorrow.’ He saw the confused look on Styles’s face and realised that in the excitement at the thought of arresting Bolton, he had missed a step out.

‘Campbell has given the thumbs up to try and find Natasha first. We’ll head to the woods first thing Monday. We’ve got him, though. No matter what we find or don’t find next week, we’ve got him.’

Styles nodded. ‘What time do we start?’

‘First light.’

‘Does Mrs Locke know?’

Porter shook his head. ‘Nothing to know yet, but she’ll find out soon enough if we get lucky.’

They both sat back in their seats at the same time, lapsing into silence, thinking about the conflicting emotions tomorrow could bring, equal parts hope and tension, searching the woods an inch at a time. Porter didn’t relish the prospect of raking through the leaves and mud all day, but every inch searched was an inch closer to bringing Natasha’s killer to justice, and for that he’d wade through a damn sight worse than woodland.

The raindrops that evaded the canopy tickled Porter’s face. A ripe, fat one hit him smack in the middle of the forehead as he looked up. Pointless to wipe it away when he knew there would be more to follow. Yesterday and today, they had arrived at the woods around dawn. Two long days of expectation giving way to frustration.

Campbell had insisted on meeting him here the first morning, but had made his excuses after an hour and hadn’t been back since. Something about a committee to attend and budgets to review. He’d be back sharp enough if they found something, though. Couldn’t have the rank and file claiming too much of the credit for an operation he’d sanctioned, however grudgingly.