EIGHT

They thought it was all about sex, they always did.

The fact that both girls had been nice to look at was important of course, but not for the reason the police thought. Hard for your average copper to see that, he knew very well. To lift their head out of the gutter.

In the car, both of them had been talkative, happy to rabbit on about all sorts; at least they were up until that moment when he’d slowed down and turned off the main road. Quiet as mice once he’d pulled over and switched the engine off. The look on their faces right then, that was what it was really about. Right then, of course, the girls thought it was all about sex too. Bracing themselves for it, like there weren’t any men around who could possibly have anything else in mind.

Men, obviously, always men.

That’s who the police would have been looking for from the off and it made sense, statistically if for no other reason. There was always the odd one of these when a woman was involved, or sometimes a woman helping a man, but they could be fairly confident they were after a bloke. The father was usually the first one they cast a beady eye over. Course it was. Too many times in the past when dads had blubbed away for the cameras, voices breaking as they stared out and begged for the safe return of their precious darlings, knowing full well they were safely tucked away in the loft or pushing up daisies on the allotment. Had to be sure that wasn’t likely to happen, didn’t they? So, the dad would have to be eliminated before anyone else was looked at.

It was probably how this one had gone, he reckoned. At least until the second girl, when witnesses had come forward, the ones who’d seen Poppy getting into the car. All change then, of course, once they had a description, a few letters from a registration plate. Just coppering by numbers from that point. Then it would be about the tech stuff: the search for fingerprints and DNA, the trawling through computer files, all of that.

Sex would come up again then, more than likely. The things they discovered. Skeletons more likely to be found on a hard drive than in a cupboard these days.

He wasn’t going to deny that it was there in the mix.

He’d certainly felt something, turning to look at those girls, as they’d tried to shift back towards the passenger door. Coming down the steps to the first one, pushing the food towards her, whispering in the dark. The worst thing about what was happening now was having to leave the second girl; being unable to visit. How would she be feeling, stuck there on her own?

What would she think of him?

He sits and works everything through and wonders how much Cornish has actually got already. He thinks back, imagining what it would be like to be one of the coppers on the case. He takes each of those steps through the investigation since that first, frantic call from Jessica Toms’ parents.

House to house, alibis checked, that nice close look at mum and dad.

Then there are the questions; the suggestions and the setting of traps. The words of wisdom from the duty solicitor.

Last of all, he asks himself if there’s enough to bring a charge if those boys in the lab come up empty-handed for some reason. All hypothetical of course, but he would never have done any of this without a good deal of thought.

He’s not worried.

He knows what they’ll find in the car.