Seated in the incident room, Kate’s mind raced to try and figure out what could have connected Maria Alexandrou and Petr Nowakowski, and driven them into the path of a killer. Two victims from the wrong side of the tracks, striving to make amends, but ultimately failing. There had to be something she was missing.

The incident room was virtually empty. Patel was on his way back from the prison, Laura was waiting at the lab for the DNA results and the rest of the team were out on calls. The only detectives at desks were Humberidge, deep in conversation with someone on the phone, and Olly Quinlan, who seemed practically asleep as he stared at his monitor. With his head propped up by his arm, looking anything but motivated, she couldn’t help but wonder whether she had somehow led to this deterioration in his personality. One thing was for sure: she couldn’t afford to carry any passengers if she was to manage all three investigations under the supe’s nose.

‘Olly,’ she called out. ‘Walk with me.’

He jumped at the sound of his name, and he frowned as his brain slowly processed where he was. ‘Sorry, ma’am?’

Kate stood, grabbing her jacket. ‘I need fresh air. Walk with me.’

Humberidge was oblivious to the brief exchange, growing angrier with whomever he was addressing on the phone.

Quinlan, pulled the leather jacket from his chair and followed Kate out of the room.

---

‘I didn’t realise you smoked, Olly,’ Kate said when they were outside the station, and he had sparked up.

‘I quit, but I’ve recently started again.’

It was another indicator that something was wrong, but she wasn’t sure how much to pry. ‘Are you okay, Olly?’

‘It’s just a cigarette, ma’am. I’ve quit before, and I’ll quit again.’

‘That’s not what I meant. I don’t need to be a detective to see that there’s something wrong. You can talk to me, you know. I don’t bite.’

He watched her as he inhaled deeply, before shaking his head as he exhaled a plume of smoke. ‘It’s just family stuff, ma’am. Nothing for you to worry about.’

‘It’s in my nature to worry, Olly. I’m a mother, and my instinct is telling me that something is off with you, and I need you working at full capacity if we’re to find Daisy and solve the two murders.’

‘I’m sorry, ma’am, but everything is okay. I know I screwed up the other day, but—’

‘This isn’t about you missing the morning briefing on Saturday. Look at you. The Olly I know is the life and soul of any party, a bubbly character whose cheeky approach to life helps motivate the rest of the team. Something’s changed.’

He crushed the cigarette underfoot. ‘If there was something I’d tell you, ma’am, but I’m fine. A bit grumpy maybe, but I’ll try and cheer up. Okay?’

Kate knew anything else she said would potentially overstep the mark of her role as his superior. ‘Where are you with speaking to Nowakowski’s employers?’

‘Oh, I spoke to them, but it’d be more accurate to refer to them as his former employers. They dismissed him a month ago.’

‘Really? What for?’

‘The lass I spoke to couldn’t say for certain. It was recorded on her system as “impropriety”. I asked her what that meant and she said that was all it said, but in her experience, impropriety usually means that the employee had either been caught taking drugs, or shagging one of the passengers on board.’

‘Drugs?’

‘Just her opinion.’

‘So if he was sacked, why did he tell his sister he was due on a cruise this week? And where was he planning to be really?’

Quinlan raised his eyebrows. ‘Exactly!’

‘You think he’d fallen back into old habits? Maybe dealing to fund the deposit on the new flat?’

‘It’s not unheard of. I think we need to look a little closer at his movements in the days leading up to his death to establish that.’

Kate nodded her agreement. ‘Do me a favour, see if you can track his activity through mobile phone coverage, but also track it against the mobile number for Maria Alexandrou. I want to know whether they came into contact with one another.’ Kate paused to answer her phone. ‘Matthews.’

‘Ma’am,’ Laura said. ‘SSD have confirmed the match. The foot belonged to Maria Alexandrou.’

---

As darkness spread across the sky outside the office, it was hard to ignore the tension on the faces of her team, as Kate gathered them around the board, and asked for their updates in the Daisy Emerson disappearance. Tonight marked the tenth full day since Daisy had last been seen. Given the media attention, countless hours of overtime – some paid, some not – and the team’s determination to bring her home safe and well, they were no closer to really knowing where she was or why she’d disappeared. The pain of failure was etched on each of their faces, and Kate knew nothing she could say or do would alter that; at least not tonight.

‘Our orders remain unchanged,’ Kate informed the group. ‘Our focus is on finding Daisy Emerson. Where are we with tracking her movements on that Friday night?’

DC Rogers raised a weary arm into the air. ‘I’ve been at the Highfield campus since lunchtime, ma’am, showing Daisy’s picture, stopping groups as they walked past. But nobody claimed to have seen her that night. A couple of guys were happy to offer opinions on what might have happened, based on nothing but a keen sense of imagination.’

‘What about the Avenue campus?’

‘Hitting that first thing, ma’am, but finding anyone who can help is like looking for a needle in a haystack.’

Kate could feel her dejection, and knew how frustratingly fruitless the leg work could be in challenging investigations such as this. ‘We need to keep looking, Vicky. One person out there could have the vital piece of the jigsaw we’re missing. Don’t give up. Were you on your own up there today?’

‘Inspector Bentley sent a couple of uniforms up with me.’

‘Good. See if you can get any additional support tomorrow too. In fact, if any of the rest of you are scratching your heads, I want a team going door-to-door again along Daisy’s route home. She can’t have just disappeared into thin air. Someone knows something. I also want someone to dig into Ismael Vardan’s movements in the past week. That three hours when he was supposedly reading in his classroom doesn’t sit well with me. Ewan, where are we with tracking that IP address?’

‘We’ve got the original signal narrowed down to the UK, but that’s as much as they claim they can tell us at the moment.’

‘Who’s they? Who’s tracing the address?’

‘The company who supplied the masking software, ma’am.’

‘Why are we relying on them for this information? Surely one of the techie guys in SSD can trace it quicker?’

‘The company are anxious to protect their customers’ identities. Their head office is in Shanghai, so we’re having—’

‘They must have the individual’s credit card information for this software. That would do to begin with. Don’t take no for an answer, Ewan. If it’s some weirdo from the back of nowhere, we know we’re looking for more than a runaway girl.’

His head dropped, crestfallen. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Come on, people, we need to think smarter. I appreciate you’re all exhausted, and every avenue we pursue is leading to a dead end, but we can’t give up on her.’

Quinlan cleared his throat. ‘I checked on Alfie Caplan’s alibi, ma’am. He was at his brother’s halls of residence in Kingston on Friday night, like he said. His brother confirmed Alfie arrived around eight o’clock and stayed until after lunch on Sunday. We have traffic-camera footage of the car arriving in Kingston just before eight o’clock. Mobile phone signal has him in West London for the entire period.’

‘Okay, so he didn’t pick her up from Georgie’s road, but I still think he’s hiding something. Keep digging. What else?’

‘Speaking of mobile phone activity,’ Laura offered, ‘I was looking at Daisy’s mobile activity for the Friday night. Georgie said Daisy left at quarter past nine, right? The phone company puts her in Georgie’s road at that time, but the phone signal isn’t lost until twenty past nine. The whole time it doesn’t leave Abbotts Way. You and I have walked that road and it would only take two minutes at most to walk from Georgie’s house to Highfield Lane. So why hang around? Georgie was adamant that Daisy left at that precise time, and hasn’t mentioned that Daisy was waiting for anyone, or that they continued talking in the street after she’d left. I just don’t understand what she was doing for that five minutes. Even if she did eventually walk to Highfield Lane, that still leaves three minutes unaccounted for.’

‘Maybe she called someone for a lift?’ Rogers suggested.

But Laura had already considered the possibility. ‘We know she didn’t call anyone, from her phone records. Her last internet activity was just before she left Georgie’s house, and then there’s no other text messages sent or received, or phone calls made or received, and then the phone signal just disappears at twenty-past. So, what was she doing for all of that time?’

‘Maybe she’d arranged for someone to collect her, and she was waiting for a lift,’ Rogers suggested.

‘But who?’ Laura countered. ‘Certainly not her parents, and her boyfriend was in London.’

‘I wouldn’t be so quick to rule out her parents,’ Humberidge interjected. ‘Barry said he was out with friends on Friday night, but that’s not what one of his friends says.’

‘What?’ Kate blurted, before she could stop herself. ‘But we’ve already checked his alibi. Two of his friends confirmed he was with them playing pool and drinking until the early hours.’

Humberidge fired her a knowing look. ‘I know all that, but a third friend who was at said engagement, told me off the record that Barry was not there.’

‘Who?’

‘My source doesn’t want to be named, as he doesn’t want to be seen to be the one to let the cat out of the bag.’

‘Humberidge, we don’t have time—’

‘Seems Barry has been having it away with one of his former employees behind Val’s back. His mates all know about it and have frequently provided him with an alibi so he can see this other woman. My source says Barry contacted them all and swears blind he was with his mistress all night, until he returned home, and asked them to stick to the story so Val won’t find out he’s been playing away.’

‘Who’s his lover?’

‘The guy didn’t want to give me a name, but did say it was someone Barry used to work with. I’m still digging, but I’ll find out who. I told you there was more going on with them than they were letting on. Of course, the question is, if he wasn’t where he said he was, can we really be sure he was with that other woman all night, and didn’t stop by to collect Daisy?’

‘That’s a big leap.’

‘Not as big as you thought though, hey, ma’am?’

Kate could feel her cheeks starting to redden. ‘Okay, keep digging, but be discreet, Humberidge. We don’t want to add to Val’s heartbreak for no reason. As for the rest of you,’ Kate continued, ‘I want you to go home and spend what time you can with your families. Do your best to switch off all thoughts about Daisy Emerson, just for the night, and try to relax. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on it.’

As the team pulled apart, computers were turned off and coats grabbed, Kate remained where she was. She’d been so sure that Barry and Val Emerson were innocent bystanders in the unfolding circus, but could she have been wrong about Barry?

‘You should take your own advice, ma’am,’ Laura offered, tying a scarf around her neck.

Kate smiled warmly, appreciating Laura’s concern. ‘You’re probably right. I’ll just finish up here...’

‘Well, don’t stay too late. And don’t forget to eat! Even the world’s best detective has a proper meal every now and again, you know.’

Kate gave her a tired smile which ended the moment she felt her phone ringing in her pocket.

‘Tara? What’s wrong?’ But she could barely make out the words through the sobs. ‘Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come at once.’