“She, sir?” Frankie was first off the starting line, as usual.

“I’ve seen video footage from the hotel’s CCTV and although the quality is too poor to make an identification, it’s pretty clear that it was a woman.” Corstorphine took a deep breath, the next words were going to come at a personal cost. He was the only person who’d seen Jenny in the flesh, had kissed her. He realised he was at risk of becoming a complete laughing stock. The woman had deceived him completely. He’d taken her at face value, who wouldn’t? He couldn’t even be sure what she really looked like, whether her hair or eyes were the colours he remembered. All he had was her approximate height and build, and how her lips felt. He shook his head as he stood in front of the small group, in frustration and anger they all rightly presumed – not knowing these emotions were directed purely at himself.

“This is a piece of art sold in a New York gallery two years ago.” The painting displayed on the screen showed a young woman standing next to a surrealist painting almost as tall as she was. A female figure hung from an old oak tree – the noose connected to clockwork gears visible in the leaves. Two twisted branches forked outwards, looking for all the world like the hands of a clock, twisted into grotesque shapes. The piece was entitled Whirligig.

“The woman in the picture is Joie Dupont. Her father was the clockmaker, Henri Dupont, who was famous for creating animatronic sculptures out of bone. I know her as Jenny Peck, she’s a staff nurse at the hospital and I believe she is June Stevens’ missing daughter. Frankie, I want you to accompany me to the hospital. McAdam, Lamb – follow us in the patrol car and cover the back of the hospital in case she makes a run for it. Don’t use the siren, I don’t want her to know we’re coming for her.” Corstorphine couldn’t help but see Lamb’s exaggerated mouthing of the words ‘Uniform Dating’ out of the corner of his eye as they left the station. He chose to ignore him, there would be worse to come.

Frankie climbed in to the patrol car beside Corstorphine and they drove off, Lamb and McAdam following closely behind as they headed towards the hospital. “How did you make the connection, sir?”