‘The only connection we know of is the dead driver of the stolen car,’ Jessica replied. ‘We’re still waiting on results to come back but as it stands we have no idea who he is. I spoke to someone this morning and they said we might get something this afternoon – but that’s only if DNA from the body matches someone already in their database. They haven’t been able to remove enough of the glass from his face, which means the only photo we have is so horrendous there’s no way we can release it to the media.’

She looked across to Cole, who added: ‘It’s doubtful we will get anything better but they’re trying to find a digital artist who can create a likeness of what he might look like without all the glass. The guy talked me through a list of the injuries earlier and said there’s serious damage to the driver’s bone structure too. They’ve said it’s going to take a while, which is code for “we don’t have enough money to pay this guy unless we really have to”.’

‘Great,’ Jessica replied. ‘The cause of death is a broken neck from not wearing the seatbelt. The airbag itself possibly killed him but there is so much damage, it could have been one of many things.’

Cole nodded, picking up the conversation. ‘I’ve been onto the labs about the clothes found in the woods. There’s not much to report. We already know the football shirt is around thirteen years old and the trousers the same age too. They’re both children’s sizes. We asked his mother and know they aren’t Isaac Hutchings’s but beyond that, nothing. We’re going to ask the parents of the other eight listed if the clothes belong to their children but it’s a bit of a long shot. As for their age, we don’t know what to make of it. They could have come from a charity shop or one of those vintage places and the labs say they appear to have been washed relatively recently. Christ knows why you’d bury them.’

‘What about Isaac?’ Jessica asked, changing the subject slightly.

The chief inspector looked pained. His own children were barely older than the boy she had found in the car boot. ‘Our people who were looking after his mother before the body was found are still with her. We’ve all got the reports about how he went missing. All we know so far is that there was no apparent sexual assault on him. That’s one thing, I guess, but it does leave us without a motive for whoever took him. We’ve got officers looking into the usual suspects, family members and the like, but a lot of that had already been examined when it was a missing person’s case. There’s nothing new to report.’

There was a silence as the three detectives looked at each other, hoping for inspiration. ‘We should get someone looking into unsolved cases from ten to fifteen years ago,’ Jessica said. ‘I know it’s a lot of work but maybe there’ll be something that could link to the clothes? If not that then I guess it’s the media?’

Cole nodded his approval. ‘We have people walking back through the woods to see if we missed anything but there’s nothing yet. Another team are heading off to the allotment later to see if there’s anything more there. We contacted the people who run the plots on either side of number sixty-one last night but none of them say they’ve ever seen anyone around that land. We don’t know if the driver is the person who used that shed and, even if he is, we don’t know who he is. We’re still looking into Glenn Harrison as the plot is in his name but we definitely know the address listed with the allotment secretary doesn’t exist.’

The DCI paused for a moment, peering at Jessica. ‘Do you think Isaac could have been kept at the shed?’

Jessica shrugged. ‘Maybe but there was nothing there to suggest that. Unless he was drugged or subdued or something, anyone nearby could have heard him shouting. I don’t know how it all connects together. Given the direction the stolen car was going when it crashed, it’s possible the driver could have been heading away from the allotments but we didn’t see any food or anything that would give the game away. It just looked abandoned.’

Reynolds had been quiet for a few minutes but leant forward and spoke forcefully. ‘What I don’t get is how this list of children was put together.’ He held up the photocopy to show them what he meant. ‘We’ve all read through this but how would you know their names and addresses? A couple go to the same school, some of the others live close to each other but there’s nothing apparent to link them, aside from the fact they’re all boys between the ages of ten and twelve. So how would you know who they were and where they lived?’

It was something Jessica had briefly considered but not had time to think about properly. ‘I can’t see how it would be a teacher but maybe someone who has access to school admittance records? It’d still leave a lot of questions about why those nine specifically. It could be someone who worked in a doctor’s surgery, or one of the local cub or scout leaders – even the coach of a football team. It’s a mystery but I don’t know where we’d start.’

There was another silence but this time no one had anything else of note to add. They were all struggling to understand quite how all of the elements linked together.

Jessica eventually broke the silence. ‘If you’re both happy to take the briefing downstairs, I’ll go visit the secretary guy from the allotments. I doubt he’ll have anything but you never know.’ The two men nodded; clearly relieved it was one job they weren’t going to have to do. ‘I’ll go downstairs and set someone looking into unsolved cases first of all,’ Jessica added.

She stood but Cole called her back before she got to the door. ‘Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot. I know it’s a pain but we’re all supposed to be having new photos taken for the website tomorrow. You’d think the press office would have better things to be working on but there’s some relaunch happening. I’ve got the paperwork somewhere . . .’

Jessica exchanged a look with Jason, who seemed as nonplussed as she felt.

She responded with an ‘All right, I’ll be here’, then left the office and made her way downstairs, striding through to the main floor, which seemed to be a hub of confusion, the various officers waiting to find out what they were supposed to be doing. Jessica had no problems spotting Izzy, her flash of red hair standing out against the rest of the bodies. She moved across the room and sat on the corner of the desk the constable was working from.

‘All right?’ Jessica asked.

Izzy glanced up. ‘Oh no, you’ve got that look.’

‘What look?’

Diamond widened her eyes. ‘That look that says you’ve got a shitty job you want me to do.’

‘I’m really going to have to work on that poker face.’

Izzy smiled. ‘Let’s have it then.’

Jessica did her best to look sorry as she spoke. ‘Obviously you know everything’s a bit of a mess at the moment and no one knows how it all fits together . . . well, I want you to grab a couple of people and start looking through the cold cases. Those clothes we found in the woods are around thirteen years old. They were washed fairly recently but could still relate to something that happened back then. They’re children’s clothes so start with anything that seems relevant: missing kids, dead kids, kids who were in accidents, that kind of thing. You might not find anything and it’s not as if there’s a shortage of children wearing football shirts but we don’t have much else at present.’

Although it would be a long-winded job, Jessica knew Izzy was ruthlessly efficient and would be the best person to coordinate something from the station.

As she had been speaking, the constable had begun to take notes. ‘All right, I’ll get on it,’ Izzy said, starting to add something before stopping herself.

‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ Jessica asked. The constable put a hand on her stomach. Again it seemed as if she had done so unconsciously.