All eyes were focused on Gina as she stood at the head of the main table in the incident room. ‘Thank you for all being here on time,’ she said as Jacob entered, looking flustered. Briggs removed his jacket and fanned a pile of paperwork in front of his face.

It was only seven thirty in the morning but the heat was already stifling. O’Connor gave the window a shove and it finally opened, letting in no breeze at all. In fact, all it let in were the midges and drunk-looking wasps that had been buzzing around outside. He pulled the cord, dragging the blind across to block out the intense sun.

Gina walked over to the front of the room with a pen, ready to update the board as they spoke. ‘Thank you. Right, I have updated the system and some of you might have seen that we received the forensics results from the girl’s clothing. Traces of blood have been identified that do not belong to the girl. She is A negative, the blood found on her clothing is group O. The results from her fingernail clipping show a trace of human faeces present under the fingernails, again, not her own. The question is, whose? Her state is worsening. I called the hospital for an update before this briefing and she is on almost constant monitoring.’

‘So we might never get to speak to her and find out what went on?’ Wyre asked as she rolled her crisp white shirtsleeves up.

‘I hold out hope. She’s still fighting. Have we managed to find out what was on the old Nokia phone we found in Darren Mason’s room?’

Keith scratched his nose as he turned a page in his notebook. ‘The battery was indeed dead. We recharged the phone and managed to turn it on. There were old messages on it, but they were messages between kids, a nine-year-old Darren and his old school friends. It looks like the parents gave him this basic phone years ago to keep tabs on him when he was playing out. I passed these over to O’Connor.’

‘Yes, I followed up on the numbers. Some haven’t been in use for a few years. The ones that were still in use belonged to his mother and father. Again, I read through the transcripts of the answerphone messages and his texts and there was nothing that relates to the case. All the messages date back to around 2008. I really thought we were on to something, finding that phone, but nothing. Sorry, guv.’

It wasn’t what she hoped it would be, O’Connor was right. ‘Damn it, anything back on the family laptop?’

O’Connor annoyingly tapped his fingers on the table as he read his notes. ‘Yes. This was interesting. I know why Mr Mason didn’t want us to take his computer.’ He paused and smiled. Gina shrugged her shoulders. ‘He was downloading porn, of the legal adult variety. The account was in his name anyway.’

‘So nothing again? We can’t have him on his father’s legal porn downloads. What about the syringe in Darren Mason’s room?’

Keith swigged his drink and sat back. ‘We analysed traces of the substance in the syringe. It had been used to inject anabolic steroids. They are injected into the muscle, where the steroid is released slowly. He was probably hoping to increase muscle mass. Also, as part of the testing that we did, the results from the girl’s blood shows us that she’d been using heroin.’

‘So we can’t even link the contents of his syringe to her?’

‘That’s right, guv.’ Keith closed his pad.

‘The orders for the steroid injections were also showing on the laptop. Didn’t even try to hide it. He was still logged in. Darren Mason had made the order via an online supplier. Looking into the supplier is just another job to add to the ever increasing list,’ O’Connor said.

‘I suppose we have to release him on bail, for now. Nothing linking him to the girl in his house, nothing at Callum’s Besford’s flat and no further evidence. Given that he’s in a relationship with Callum Besford, we need to make sure he’s safe when we release him if he’s heading back there and not home. Callum told us that some local youths were harassing them, homophobic harassment. I’ve contacted Redditch Police and the council, they are following up on these incidents.’ Gina slammed a fist on the table. ‘Looks like we’re back at the beginning and I really thought we were getting somewhere. We need to make sure we’ve plotted every stop that Darren made that morning and work on the theory that she got into the van during one of these stops. Although the girl could have been in his van since leaving Callum’s flat. Maybe she got in when he was parked up in Winyates, Redditch. O’Connor, can you follow this one up? Arrange a door to door of the area. Find out if anyone saw her getting into his van on that morning or the night before. Wyre, can you go over the plot points on the map, where Darren said he’d stopped to talk to Callum on the phone. Find out what’s around, anywhere she could have come from. Any CCTV, private or commercial? I know you’ve been working on this, but spread the net a little wider.’

Wyre nodded.

Gina’s phone went. She recognised the number. The call was coming from Cleevesford Hospital. ‘Excuse me,’ she said as she stepped towards the window to get a clearer signal. The room filled with chatter as the rest of the team discussed their next moves.

‘DI Harte.’

‘Doctor Nowak,’ he replied with a faint accent.

‘Any updates? Has she been brought around?’

‘Quite the opposite, I’m afraid there was nothing more we could do for her.’

Gina placed the flat of her hand on the window and stared out at the car park. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear.