Kate stuck Petr Nowakowski’s mugshot on a clean board, writing his name in thick black letters beneath it. ‘Here’s what we know so far: he told his sister he was about to come into a small windfall, enough to put down a deposit on a flat for them to rent. But where was the money coming from? He had form for armed robbery – his sister swears blind he’d turned his back on crime – but I want one of you to follow up on it. Check his room for any sign of planned activity; has he been scoping any areas out for a smash and grab job?’

Freeborn raised his bony arm into the air. ‘I’ll take that, ma’am. I’ll ask my contacts on the streets too, see who’s planning what.’

‘Thanks, Ewan. Next, Ana said he was working for a cruise company as a sous chef. I can’t see that a company dealing with such a wealthy clientele would hire a former thief as a chef, but we need to make contact with them to be sure. Ana’s provided the address. If he was employed, find out why he wasn’t on board the ship like he’d told his sister. That brings us on to the box the heart was in: who sent it? And why?’

‘No usable security footage of our suspect at the depot,’ Freeborn said glumly. ‘And no sign of him at Bitterne train station either, or on any buses that stopped there or nearby in the time around when the box was left on Saturday. It’s like he appeared out of nowhere, left the item, and then vanished like a ghost.’

‘We can’t give up on this, Ewan. That depot is our only confirmed sighting. Go back to the depot, check every business and residence nearby for additional security cameras. Someone, somewhere must have picked him up. We need to know what he looks like so we can narrow our search.’

Freeborn knew she was right, and nodded to hide his embarrassment for not already having made those calls.

‘Where are we with the air fresheners? Any prints?’

Rogers raised her hand into the air. ‘SSD said no. The ink used to write the message to you is the same as you would find in any dry wipe board marker, commonly found in schools, offices and,’ she nodded towards the board, ‘police stations. No prints on the air fresheners in the gymnasium either. In fact, no discernible prints have been found in the gymnasium. There are smears on the walls where the technicians believe his hands may have brushed, but they believe our suspect was wearing gloves. All they can confirm is that the air fresheners at the gym are the same brand as those in the box.’

Kate sighed. A foot from a female victim left at the school, and a heart belonging to a male victim sent in a box. The air fresheners suggested a connection between the crimes, but little to steer them towards identifying their suspect. ‘What about stray hairs? Anything?’

‘They’re still processing the scene, ma’am.’

‘What about the box and gift wrap?’

‘The box was the sort used to store paper for printers and the like. This particular brand is quite common, available wholesale to local authorities and businesses.’

‘And schools?’ Kate asked.

Vicky nodded. ‘I checked and St Bartholomew’s currently has ten boxes of the stuff in storage. It’s possible our suspect collected the box from there, though we may never be able to prove it for certain.’

‘Where are we with chasing down Ismael Vardan?’

‘Vardan was at the school this morning,’ PC Barnes interjected. ‘Family wedding in Leicester, which is why he was away at the weekend. Spoke to his sister on the phone and she confirmed he was there.’

‘What did he have to say about Friday night’s discovery?’

‘I was at the school when he arrived. He hadn’t even got the message that the school would be closed until further notice. Took the opportunity to question him about his movements on Thursday and Friday. Interestingly, he didn’t have any classes between midday and three on Thursday, and when I asked where he was and what he was doing, he said he was reading alone in his classroom. I asked if anyone could verify that, but he said he couldn’t be sure. He said it’s possible someone could have come past and seen him working inside, but nobody stopped to say hello.’

‘You believe him?’

‘I think it would be hard to disprove. I can reach out to the rest of the faculty and ask if anyone saw him during those times, but that will mean revealing to the rest that he’s a suspect.’

‘Why was he in his classroom and not the staff room?’

‘I asked him about that,’ Barnes said, ‘and he told me it’s quieter in the classroom. He says he doesn’t have too many friends in the school and prefers the solitude of the classroom.’

‘We know that TUTD Surveyors had vacated the sports hall by that time, so it’s possible he could have been in the sports hall all that time.’

‘Doesn’t explain how he got the victim in there, though, ma’am. Plus, why do it on school property, unless he wants to get caught?’

Kate fixed Laura with a hopeful look. ‘Any news on the photocopy engineer?’

‘Chris Jackson was called out to the school on Thursday morning to fix the machine in the administration office, which he did, by all accounts, leaving just before midday. But when I asked the administrators why Jackson had been called back on Friday, they said he hadn’t.’

Kate narrowed her eyes.

‘Camera has his van entering the school grounds at three on Friday afternoon,’ Quinlan added, ‘as the school was kicking out, and the van is seen leaving just before five, but he wasn’t signed in for that period, and he hadn’t been called out to repair anything.’

Kate’s pulse quickened. ‘What does Jackson have to say about that?’ Kate asked.

‘Phone still going to voicemail, ma’am,’ Laura confirmed. ‘You want me to get vehicle recognition to run a search?’

Kate nodded.

‘What about the company he works for? Have you managed to—’

‘Self-employed. According to his website, he’s a sole trader and although there are images of other people in the banner on his site, he seems to be the only person listed as employed by the company.’

‘So, where is he?’

Laura opened her mouth to speak when the phone behind her burst to life. Kate nodded for her to answer it, when a second phone rang, and then a third and then a fourth. Kate searched the faces of her team for answers, as they moved off to answer the disturbances.

Laura lowered the phone, covering the mouthpiece. ‘Shit! Ma’am, you need to get the television on now. BBC One.’

Kate frowned, but strode across the incident room to the dust-covered set in the corner, switching it on at the wall and flicking through the channels. Behind her, the room was suddenly buzzing with conversations and the distant sound of phones ringing. Kate turned up the volume, recognising the view of St Bartholomew’s over the reporter’s shoulder.

‘News of this discovery was broken by local newspaper reporter, Zoe Denton.’ The camera panned round to reveal Zoe, clutching the arm of an umbrella, her face taut. ‘Thank you for joining us, Zoe. Can you confirm what’s going on just behind us? We’ve seen technicians from the Scientific Services Department coming and going through the school gates since Friday.’

‘From what I understand, the police were already on site when the human foot was discovered on the property after hours. Access to the school has been restricted ever since, but my source tells me the focus of the activity is in and around the old sports hall.’

Kate’s head snapped round, looking at her team, all now manning one phone or another as the news filtered out to the general public and terrified parents reacted. Kate turned back to stare at Zoe Denton on the screen. A talented and determined journalist, their paths had first crossed when Kate had been transferred to Southampton and Kate had called on Zoe for support when hunting Amy Spencer’s killer last year. But who was Zoe’s source this time? Kate didn’t want to think that anyone in her team would have leaked these details.

‘And this, of course, is the school missing teenager Daisy Emerson attended,’ the reporter continued. ‘Why do you think this discovery is being kept under wraps? Do you think the foot belonged to Daisy?’

The skin around Zoe’s eyes tightened further. ‘It would explain why no formal statement has yet to be made to the public, and why the school will be closed for the next few days.’

Kate wasn’t even aware that the supe had reached a decision about closing the school, thought it was definitely the right call.

Laura sidled over. ‘We’re going to need help manning these phones. This story is now on the BBC news site, and starting to trend on social media. This is just the start.’

Kate gritted her teeth. ‘If I find out who leaked this information…’ She didn’t need to finish the sentence. ‘Do me a favour. Go down to the switchboard and have them stop filtering calls up here. We don’t have time to be manning these calls. Finding Daisy is still our priority.’ Taking a deep breath, Kate added, ‘I’d better go and brief the supe.’