NINETY-FIVE

6.30 P.M.

Just being out of the office had brought Stacey alive. She wasn’t sure what day it was or when she had last seen Devon, but she was now wide awake, filled with adrenaline and determined to find Nazeera Khan before time ran out.

She and Penn stepped into the play area and took a cursory look around, listening keenly as they went. The sound of traffic from the busy road was growing distant behind them.

‘Stace, what’s that?’ Penn asked, pointing to something lying on the ground near the helter-skelter.

Stacey bent down and retrieved it. ‘A shoe.’

‘A lady’s shoe,’ Penn said, heading over to the bin. ‘It’s been emptied. The cleaners would have spotted it. It’s been placed there since.’

Stacey took out her phone.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Calling the boss.’

‘What if it’s a trap to fool us? Remember the call to the train line? It might be that the boss is heading in the right direction. If we call her this way…’

‘Okay, I get it,’ Stacey said, following him, still holding the shoe.

They continued moving towards the high street, passing the school, chip shop and tobacconist. Once they reached the top of the high street, they were close to the area the boss and Bryant were searching. They turned and swept the other side of the road.

Nothing.

‘Where now?’ Stacey asked.

‘If we turn left at the end, there’s a bridge over the canal and more shops. I think all the forges are that way too.’

‘Surely he wouldn’t have had time to bring her this far back?’ Stacey asked.

‘We don’t know where he broke in. We may not be that far away from where he entered.’

‘How do we know we’re on the right—’ Stacey stopped speaking as she spied the bridge.

Lying in the middle of the road was a handbag.

‘Penn, I didn’t completely agree with you the first time, but whether you outrank me or not, I’m calling the boss now.’