Nightshade

28

‘So the time fits and there was a van?’ said Superintendent Wilkinson. He’d been watching Sky News with the sound down as he’d listened to the inspector report on what he’d learned, which frankly wasn’t much. Mr and Mrs Harper were due to make a live appeal within the hour, not that there was anything new for them to say. Just tears and scared faces and the same words over and over again. Please let us have our daughter back, please don’t hurt her. Paedophiles didn’t pay attention to appeals, Wilkinson knew that, but it was important to keep the missing girl in the public’s thoughts.

‘There’s no sign of a van now, but there is a garage. Sir, we could try knocking at the door. We’re overalled up as gasmen, we could say we’re testing for leaks.’

‘You can’t go in without a warrant or probable cause, you know that.’

‘We could do a walk around the outside. Try to get a look-see through the windows.’

‘Okay, but no knocking on the door and under no circumstances are you to go inside. But if they come out, you can speak to them. And watch young Fisher, he’s still wet behind the ears.’

‘Understood, sir.’

The superintendent ended the call. Mr and Mrs Harper were taking their places at a table, flanked by the deputy chief constable and a lady from the Press Office. He grabbed for the remote and turned the volume up.