Page 20 of 36 Hours

She also wanted to be able to criticise the police for poor performance when she felt it was warranted. That was harder to do with pictures of one of them running off in search of a potential missing homeless person and the other wracking her brain trying to solve a puzzle. They weren’t images she needed in her head if she was to remain objective.

And all this because she had brought it to them. She was responsible for pulling four officers away from their weekends, and she could see the seriousness with which the investigation was being treated.

What if she was wrong? What if it was all a hoax? Her life wouldn’t be worth living if she was responsible for sending the team on a wild goose chase.

To make up for that possibility, she’d been busy doing what Stone had instructed and had so far trawled back a month or so, going over every article she’d written in detail to see if she could establish why she’d been chosen. There were other local reporters at other local newspapers. She’d not covered anything that seemed remotely connected.

And what of the article she was supposed to write?

Something from her was supposed to appear online by noon. She had exactly one hour to find an angle, write the article and get it authorised by her boss.

Not one of those things was as easy as it should be for a reporter.

Before she wrote anything at all, she had a phone call to make.

SIXTEEN

11.10A.M.

‘What do you mean he said no?’ Kim barked into the phone.

It was ten minutes since she’d gathered all the litter-picking volunteers together and enlisted their help.

Accepting that she had no authority to stop the event going ahead, she had recruited them all to search instead.

As she was unable to tell them what she was looking for, she’d asked them to be on the lookout for a small box, or anything out of the ordinary.

She and Bryant had been about to rejoin the search when Frost’s name had appeared on her phone. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the news she brought was even worse.

‘Did you explain it properly?’ Kim asked, putting her on speaker. It had to be Frost’s fault. No reasonable boss would tell her she couldn’t write the articles.

‘I read him every communication.’

‘And did you tell him that we’re treating it as a credible threat?’ Kim asked.

‘Yeah, and you don’t want me to repeat his thoughts on that. Safe to say he thinks we’ve all got nothing better to do with our time, but with more swear words.’

‘Jesus, Frost, we have to do what he wants until we know what’s at stake.’

‘I know, but he’s my boss. What do you expect me to do?’

Kim bit back her irritation ‘You just gotta?—’

‘Guv,’ Bryant interrupted, tapping her arm and pointing to the bottom of the car park where Fred, the self-appointed hub for all contact, was waving at them wildly.

‘Gotta go,’ she said, ending the call before sprinting down to Fred.

‘Jerry’s just called in a box, under the bridge. I’ll take you to?—’

‘I know where it is,’ Kim said, moving away. She’d walked over it less than half an hour before.

Within minutes, they were at the bridge where Jerry was standing guard as though the box was going to grow legs and run away. She had to respect the litter-pickers for taking the task seriously.

‘Show me,’ she said.

He bent down. ‘I was reaching under here for a Coke can and my grabber hit something metallic. Looks like one of those old petty cash tins. Seems out of place,’ he said excitedly.

Jerry appeared to be enjoying himself immensely. He sure hadn’t thought he’d be instrumental in a police search when he’d turned up this morning to pick up cans, sweet wrappers and goodness knows what else.