When he was sure he was out of danger, Roy rebooted the phone, in case it had a glitch. But after it finally came back to life, it still showed no signal. He set off along the road, turning right, retracing the way they had come earlier today, all the time listening out for any more of these creatures.

The darkness of the forest on either side pressed in on him, eerily. But he put it out of his mind, comforting himself with the words he’d always loved and had used as a mantra whenever he was in a scary situation: Yea, though I may walk alone through the shadow of the Valley of Death, I will fear no evil . . . for I am the meanest son-of-a-bitch in the valley.

After another twenty minutes he stopped and again checked his phone.

Two bars!

Finally, a proper signal.

First, he checked his messages. There was only one new one, from his mate Glenn Branson, wishing him a happy holiday and telling him not to worry about work.

Nothing from Jack. No phone message or email.

Why not?

He called Jack’s number. It rang. Once, twice, three times.

Come on, buddy, answer!

Ten rings and then, ‘Hi, this is Detective Sergeant Jack Alexander. If your call is urgent, please call the Incident Room number at the end of this message. Otherwise please leave me a voicemail.’

‘Jack, this is Roy. Where are you? We’re at the chateau and we’re all concerned as we haven’t heard from you. Call me as soon as you can.’

He ended the call and waited for several minutes in the hope Jack would pick this up. Then another five minutes. He saw lights in the distance. Heard the sound of an engine. Getting closer, the lights brighter. He stepped into the edge of the woods and moments later a small car, travelling recklessly fast, music blaring from a boom box, shot past. Then silence and darkness again.

Now he was even more worried about Jack. Why no message? No word? This was just not like him. He decided to call Glenn to see if he had heard anything from him.

The DI answered almost immediately and good-humouredly. ‘You’re meant to be on holiday, boss. Hope this isn’t about work?’

‘Well, not exactly.’

‘Which means it is about work. We’re missing you but not missing you, so relax – chillax!’

‘Haha! I’m calling about Jack.’

‘Yeah? Isn’t he on holiday with you?’

‘That’s the point, matey. He’s meant to be, but he’s gone AWOL – you haven’t heard from him, have you?’

‘AWOL? Missing? What do you mean? He was going to Paris to meet with detectives there and then coming on to join you, I thought. I’m not expecting to hear from him.’

‘He should have been here at midday and he hasn’t showed up.’