The fans whirred away in the incident room. Briggs and Annie sat at one end, smiling as they whispered words back and forth. O’Connor and Wyre sat at opposite sides of the table and Jacob sat between O’Connor and Bernard. Gina stood in front of the board. One of the walls was taken up with the map, showing the original route that Darren Mason had taken in his van. That same map had been plotted with the shallow grave that they’d found Simone in. She could see clearly that the route Darren taken hadn’t been close to the grave.

She grabbed another pin and placed it in the middle of King Street. ‘We have to consider that Simone Duxford may have come to Cleevesford to look for her biological father. After speaking to Cassie Duxford, we know that Simone’s father, a man called Gareth, lived on that street. That is, unless he lied to her. Have you started the ball rolling, O’Connor?’

‘Yes, guv. I called the council after you messaged. They are looking into it and calling me back in a bit.’

‘For heaven’s sake. Haven’t they got all this information at hand?’

‘They said it was on a previous computer system and they’d have to delve into the archives. They managed to tell me that no one called Gareth has lived on King Street over the past ten years.’

Another stumbling block. Gina began to pace. ‘We need some officers to get down to King Street with a photo of Simone. Maybe she knocked on someone’s door asking for Gareth. If any of you can cancel any plans this evening, I’d be hugely grateful. I know you all have a life but we need to get to the bottom of what’s happening and that’s going to involve a lot of groundwork. Has the other press appeal gone out?’

‘As soon as O’Connor came to me, we prepared it and sent it out. It should be on the news this evening and is probably already online,’ Annie replied, twisting her hair between her fingers as she doodled over the page, waiting for further instructions.

Bernard cleared his throat and perked up, presuming he would be asked to speak next.

‘What have you got for me?’ Gina asked.

‘Keith has just messaged me. We’ve identified our van girl. Erin Holden, aged sixteen. Her dental records match and she is registered as having broken a finger as a child. Also, the cut to her side was made by a tool in Darren Mason’s van. Traces of her blood were found on this. The wound appears to be accidental. It looks like she scraped across it, probably as the van took a corner. We know who she is. Yes.’ Bernard punched the air and dropped his pen on the table.

‘That name is on my list of missing girls,’ O’Connor said. ‘I was almost getting to her. She left home just before Christmas with a lad. Her mother is from Kings Heath in Birmingham.’

‘I need to speak to her. Who’s coming?’

Jacob looked up and smiled.

‘At least I can lose the list now and get on with the door to door on King Street,’ O’Connor said as he closed his notebook and turned back to his computer.

All the other families she’d been speaking to had been devastated but this time, she would be the one to deliver the bad news. Her phone rang and she walked towards the window. ‘Hello.’

‘I know the name of the girl my daughter hung around with on the streets. Her name was Erin,’ she heard Julia Dawson say. ‘And there’s more, the girl who I’ve been speaking to said Erin and Christina had been approached by a man, probably in his fifties and he was trawling Birmingham recently with a woman. She hasn’t seen the girls since.’

They were after another girl. Gina knew it. She grabbed her pad as the woman began relaying all the details.