Page 93 of Stolen

‘It might not seem like we’re any further on, Alex, but trust me, we’re making progress,’ Jack says. ‘When you identified Ian from the video, the police just concentrated on finding him, for obvious reasons. They weren’t looking at the circle of people around him, which means there are leads that probably haven’t been followed up.’

I want to believe he’s right. Having a new focus of investigationisa major step forward. We’ve been treading water for so long, and this could be the break we need.

Or yet another dead end.

‘We should find out if Ian has a connection to anyone at South Weald House,’ I say. ‘Maybe he knew someone who worked there.’

‘It’s certainly something to consider,’ he says.

I know a brush-off when I hear one.

‘You don’t sound convinced,’ I say.

Jack pulls sideways at his tie to loosen it. I’m struck again by the repressed energy he exudes. It’s impossible not to be caught in its undertow and, despite my wrenching misery, knowing Jack believes we’re getting somewhere makes me feel a little better.

‘Look, we’ve established Lottie must’ve known her abductor, right?’ he says. ‘Or at least felt comfortable with them, or she’d have cried out when they approached her. Created some kind of disturbance, whatever. That’s one of the reasons the police liked Ian for this in the first place.’

‘Yes.’

‘And now we know that whoever took her knewIanpretty well, too,’ he adds, balling up his tie and flinging it into a desk drawer. ‘Well enough to have discovered his plans to vanish with Sanaa and be there on the right day, at the right time, to film it. So we’re looking for someone who met Lottieandknew Ian.’

‘The twelve apostles,’ I say.

He pulls a pad of paper towards him. ‘Yes. It’s got to be someone who was at the rehearsal dinner. It’s the only chance they’d have had to meet both Ian and Lottie. Ian was only in Florida one night and he told my guys he didn’t speak to anyone else at the wedding. Give me the names of everyone who was at that “last supper” other than you and Ian.’

‘Paul Harding,’ I say. ‘Zealy. Marc and Sian themselves, of course, and Sian’s parents, Penny and David. Marc’s dad, Eric. Catherine Lord, the maid of honour – she married Paul a few months after the wedding, so she’s Catherine Harding now. And Flic and Johnny Everett, the parents of one of the bridesmaids, Olivia.’

‘Anyone else?’

‘That’s it,’ I say. ‘But the police have checked them all out, multiple times—’

‘The police spent the first half of the investigation thinking it was you and the second insisting it was Ian,’ Jack says. ‘I’m not taking anything they say on trust.’

I notice he’s divided the ten names into two separate columns.

‘Men and women,’ Jack says. ‘You saw a woman on the train with Lottie. So that’s where we start.’