The three cousins of Sunny from Dewsbury had been quickly identified and taken into custody by the West Yorkshire Police, to whom they were already well known. A white van belonging to one of them was being sent up to the police forensics garage in Eastvale for testing. According to the local police, there was a dirty, stained mattress in the back, and several of Mimosa’s personal items, including her mobile and her shoulder bag were soon found hidden in the house of one of the suspects.

The search was still going on for Jade who, according to the school secretary, was really called Carol Fisher, but nothing had been seen of her so far. At least they had now managed to get a photograph from her foster parents. Gerry had tipped them off about the brother in Leicester, and the police down there said they’d keep an eye on his place.

Already, according to a phone call from Superintendent Carver in Wytherton, mobs were gathering on the estate, at the shopping center and along the Strip. Bricks had been thrown, shop windows smashed, a few scuffles had taken place. One young white youth had already been taken off to the hospital with blood streaming down his face after he and several cronies had mounted an assault on the mosque. The riot police were trying to keep a lid on it rather than exacerbate things, but it was getting more and more out of control as more people joined the various mobs, and he wanted reinforcements. The tabloid headlines showed a grieving Moffat family on the doorstep of their Southam Terrace house under the bold headline: THEY MURDERED OUR LITTLE ANGEL MIMOSA. Beside the story were three small head-and-shoulders photographs of Middle Eastern men, looking like police mug shots but connected with a different story entirely. It was just a clever juxtaposition, a journalistic ploy. Adrian Moss would be over the moon, Annie thought.

Winsome and Doug Wilson were about the only ones who appeared well rested, and even Wilson had probably been up half the night going through CCTV footage with the rest of his team. Though they shouldn’t call it footage, Annie thought, as it was mostly digital. Byteage, perhaps? Jazz Singh and Stefan Nowak were fresh, too, though they had also been working unusually long hours and had started early that morning. AC Gervaise had managed to go home for a quick shower and change, but Annie could see the dark shadows under her eyes, and her lipstick was smeared a little unevenly over her Cupid’s bow lips. ACC McLaughlin, having authorized the whole business and set things in motion, had gone home to bed. Banks had also gone home to get some sleep, but he had promised to partner Annie on the interview with Sunny later that morning.