Lucy entered the office and drew to a halt. ‘Okay, something’s gone wrong. I can tell,’ she said, looking at Murray. ‘Eew, can you see through those?’

Both of Murray’s eyes had swollen during the night thanks to the blow to the nose.

‘Just about. Rob’s kidnapped Fabia and Philippe. Fabia’s his half-sister.’

‘Jeez, no. Where’s Natalie?’

‘With Aileen.’

‘How did Rob get to her?’

‘Crafty little shit was hiding out at the house next door to Louise’s the entire time Natalie and I were there. The house owners are on holiday and he broke in, then bided his time. When we went to talk to Fabia, he was already in position. Probably sat back and watched the show – must have made him chuckle seeing us come and go – and then, in the early hours, he sneaked over the fence that separates the two houses and broke in through Louise’s back door. The officers there think he used a lock pick set because he even managed to open the deadbolts, and there’s no sign of a forced entry. Which probably explains how he broke into Charlotte’s house too. There’s also no sign of a struggle, so we suspect Fabia probably left with him because he was threatening her or Philippe with a weapon.’

‘For Pete’s sake! He’s a cunning bastard. Got any idea where he might have taken them?’

‘Natalie’s asked that criminal profiler, Henrik, to give it some thought. Talking of which, here they come now.’

Lucy turned to see the pair approach, Henrik towering over Natalie, who in spite of the lack of sleep and setbacks still maintained a businesslike air, walking sprightly and gesticulating as she talked.

The door opened. ‘Henrik has a theory,’ said Natalie. ‘One I believe we should act upon.’

Henrik took centre stage. ‘This appears to have been about Rob’s relationship with his mother. He is carrying an abundance of hate for her and has never got over the abandonment he experienced as a child. The questions he wrote in blood were lifted from a letter he wrote to her, expressing his true emotions. I’m of the opinion he wants to hurt her emotionally, probably in the same way he felt hurt, so he intends doing that by taking her daughters and grandchildren from her. All the women he’s killed so far are of a similar build, have long, chestnut-brown hair and brown eyes like his mother, Anne. As for leaving the children alive and behind at the scene of the crime, I imagine he sees something of himself in them. Consequently he doesn’t kill them.

‘This desire for revenge and the build-up to kidnapping Fabia and her son stems from his childhood. He clearly harbours painful memories and feelings of rejection which began at the moment his mother walked out on him. Given he’s been recounting dream-like situations to Fabia and has clearly been preparing for this kidnapping for a long time, I have a suspicion he’ll take her and her son back to that point where all this misery began.’

Murray spoke up. ‘You mean, if we can find out where he lived when his mother deserted him, he’ll be holed up somewhere in that area?’

‘Yes, he might try and return to that very place.’

Natalie issued instructions. ‘Find out where he and his father were living when Anne walked out on them, and we might yet find them.’

‘He was brought up in a caravan park,’ said Lucy. ‘I’ll talk to the matron at the nursing home and see if Donald can help with that.’ She moved away to make the call.

Ian spoke up. ‘His mother must have left them in 1988. I couldn’t find anything on her after that year.’

‘How many residential caravan parks are there in Blackpool?’

Ian typed the keywords into a search engine, and when the results came back, he replied, ‘Nowadays, three. Might have been more in the 1980s.’

Lucy ended her call. ‘She’s going to ask Donald. We’ll have to wait.’

‘If you don’t need me…’ Henrik moved towards the door. ‘I’ll get off. I have to be in Edinburgh tonight.’

Natalie held up a finger. ‘I have one last question for you. What if Rob was also responsible for Lucia Perez’s death? Should we consider her to be one of his five victims?’

‘If Rob killed her, he left no message and that is an important part of his MO. From that fact alone, I’d deduce she wasn’t part of his grand plan. There’s a chance, however, he was preparing himself and killed her and maybe even others in readiness for this. He has been planning it for some considerable time.’

It was the answer she’d expected. ‘Thank you for your help.’ Natalie extended a hand that was swallowed in his own.

‘Good luck,’ was the response.

Natalie spun back to face her team. ‘We have no time to waste on this. I agree with Henrik and don’t think Rob is still in the area. I’m going to act on the premise he’s retuned to where he was left as a child. As a result of that, we’re heading to Blackpool. If we don’t get an exact address for the caravan park, we’ll try all of the parks there. It’ll be the same arrangement as last night for the cars: Lucy with me, Murray with Ian, and we’ll stay in contact using the communication units. Okay. Let’s go nail this bastard.’

---

They were some way along the M6 motorway when the phone rang, only fifteen minutes away from Blackpool. Lucy connected the call on the hands-free.

‘Sergeant Carmichael?’ It was the matron from the care home.

‘Yes.’

‘I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you. Donald got quite agitated and it required a lot of effort for him to talk.’

‘Did he remember where they lived?’

‘Sunshine Caravan Park in Great Marton. It used to be a run-down residential site but it’s since had something of a revival and now it’s a static caravan holiday park.’

‘Thank you once again for your help.’

Natalie got immediately onto the police headquarters at Blackpool and requested assistance. Lucy, using the comms unit, told Murray exactly where they were heading.

---

A sign welcomed them to Sunshine Caravan Park and informed them they needed to check in 100 metres on the left. Green railings with the gold lettering ‘SCP’ confirmed they were at the right place. One side of the gate was closed, the other half a height-restriction barrier that both cars slipped under.

They arrived in a courtyard, complete with small roundabout stocked with spring flowers. To their left was an office and opposite it a car park. Lucy called in the registrations of all the vehicles. Pointing to a silver Nissan Qashqai with a sticker in the rear window, she said, ‘Hire car. Could be his. I’ll get further details from the hire company.’

Natalie motioned for Ian and Murray to remain in their vehicle, and leaving Lucy to find out the information about the hire car, she marched to the office. The counter was unmanned so she called out.

A pleasant-faced woman, wiping her hands on a tea towel, responded. ‘Sorry, I was out the back.’

Natalie explained who she was and, pushing a photograph of Rob towards the woman, asked if she had seen him.

‘I haven’t checked him in or seen him. My husband might have. He’s been dealing with all the arrivals this week.’

‘Is he here?’

‘Sorry, you missed him. He’ll be back this evening.’

‘Have you got a phone number for him?’

She gave an apologetic smile. ‘He’s switched off his mobile. He’s gone fishing. He always turns it off when he goes fishing.’

Lucy burst through the door and interrupted the exchange. ‘It belongs to him. Hire car firm confirmed he rented it in his own name.’

Natalie turned back to the woman. ‘How many people are renting units at the minute?’

‘Off the top of my head, about ten. It’s the quiet season. Doesn’t pick up until after Easter. We’ll have the details in the back office. Come through.’

The woman took them into another room filled with box files and a table cluttered with paperwork and fired up the computer.

‘How many caravans are there in total?’ Natalie asked.

‘Only thirty. We’re the smallest of the sites in the area and we don’t have all the facilities some of the others offer, but we do have excellent accommodation and peace and quiet.’ The computer slowly whirred into life. She clicked onto a document. ‘Yes, it was updated yesterday. These are the people renting at the moment and these are the vans they’re in.’

She pointed at the list of names on the screen. Natalie recognised none of the names. If Rob had hired a van, he was using an alias. A sudden thought struck her.

‘Which occupied vans are the most private?’

‘Apple and Strawberry. We name all the vans after fruits,’ the woman replied, noticing Lucy’s furrowed eyebrows. ‘Apple is one of our prestigious vans, accommodating between two and six people, and offers central heating and a decking area so it can be used all year round. If I remember correctly, two couples are currently renting it. Strawberry is the more basic of the two, a standard caravan, comfortable with two bedrooms and a lounge, but no extras, no luxuries.’

Natalie chewed it over. There was every chance Rob would have requested a caravan some distance from all the others in a more private spot. He wouldn’t want anyone to notice anything suspicious, or risk hearing Fabia call out. He had to be in Strawberry. She was going out on a limb but there was no time to spare. They couldn’t surround all the vans, draw attention to themselves and risk Fabia’s life. ‘I’d like you to shut and lock the office. Shortly there’ll be police officers throughout the site, and we will keep the place secure, so there’s no cause for alarm. The man we are after has taken hostages and we have to get them out. I think there’s every chance he’s holding them captive in that van – Strawberry. We’ll need a map of this site.’

---

In the caravan park office Murray, Lucy and Natalie discussed their limited options.

‘If we get vision on Strawberry, establish Fabia and her son are there and alive, we could bring in a trained police negotiator along with armed units.’

Murray’s suggestion was sensible but Natalie didn’t think Rob was prepared to negotiate. Natalie firmly believed he would die first rather than give up Fabia and Philippe.

Natalie shook her head. ‘We haven’t got that amount of time to play with. He could kill Fabia at any moment. Show me the interior layout of the van.’

Lucy pulled up the image of the van on the computer.

Natalie scrutinised the picture and spoke again. ‘It has only one entrance, reached by front steps. There’s a large window in the sitting room, at the left end of the caravan. There’s a bedroom window the same side as the front entrance, to the right of the door, and another window in the bedroom at the rear of the caravan. He’ll spot us if we approach from any of those directions. That only leaves us the blind side – the right-hand end of the caravan which faces a wood and is separated from it by a high-wire fence. If we got through or over the fence, we could climb under the van. There’s enough space under the van for a person. Two of us could shuffle underneath it and that would give us the opportunity to work out if Fabia and Philippe are inside the van and alive, and maybe even locate their actual whereabouts. Then, we cause a diversion to distract Rob, separating him from Fabia, and storm the van. It’s risky but we can manage it and we have one advantage: Rob might not know we’re here at the caravan park.’

‘I have an idea how we can distract him,’ said Lucy. She explained it to Natalie, who agreed it was a good ploy.

While Lucy made the arrangements for the distraction, Murray asked Natalie, ‘How can we be certain they’re not dead already?’

‘His car’s still parked here. He’d have left if they were dead. Ian and other officers are in unmarked cars, waiting to block him should he return to the car, and nobody has raised any alarms yet. He’s here all right. He wants to take his time and relish this moment. This is what he’s been building up to and he’s not going to rush it. Henrik told me he thinks Rob wants Fabia to suffer, so he’ll undoubtedly prolong her ordeal to maximise his own pleasure. It’s this or we wait for a negotiator, by which time it could be too late.’

Lucy shoved her phone in her back pocket. ‘All sorted. Let’s do it. I can’t see what other viable options we have, given the time restraint. It’ll be a miracle if he hasn’t already killed her.’

‘You both happy with my decision?’ Natalie asked.

They nodded. As they left the office, Natalie fought back the nausea that had risen. It was a product of self-doubt and anxiety and she had no time to deal with such issues. She had to save Fabia and Philippe.