‘That’s exactly what I thought and why I wanted to look it over.’

Because of the intensity of the investigation, no one had actually had time to revisit the scenes from the old case. It was highly unlikely they would be able to find anything significant that had been missed so many years ago but, having read the file to the point of almost memorising it, there was something concerning Jessica.

With Reynolds navigating, they made their way through a series of lanes back towards the main road. It soon became clear that the wasteland where Toby Whittaker had last been seen was now anything but. An industrial park had been erected on the site, with a dozen enormous warehouses spread out on their own plots and various interconnecting roads that had been built recently. Jessica parked her car half on the pavement and the two officers got out before examining the map together.

Reynolds pointed at a dark green building that had a large empty yard at the front. A sign bore the name of an electronics manufacturer. ‘I think he was taken from somewhere around there,’ he said, before indicating towards the way they had already come. ‘The main road would have always been there but this bit we’ve parked on is new.’

‘Where are the woods in relation to here?’ Jessica asked. The two of them looked at the map again and turned around so they were facing in the opposite direction. Reynolds held his arm out towards a second warehouse behind them but they both figured it out.

‘We’ve had to drive the long way around but it’s only going to be a few hundred yards over the back of there. Maybe half a mile at most?’ Jessica suggested.

Reynolds nodded in agreement. ‘What is the significance, do you think?’ he asked. Jessica’s tone had clearly indicated something was on her mind. She walked the few paces back to her car and leant on it facing where the woods would be. Reynolds joined her.

‘Something has bugged me about that map ever since we found it,’ she said. ‘I think we can both agree that you’d only need a map if you didn’t know where you were going, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘We don’t know if our driver was looking to bury Isaac’s body, collect the clothes or do something else – but it’s logical to think that, whatever he was doing, he hadn’t been to the site before.’

‘Either that or he hadn’t been in a while.’

Jessica nodded, turning to face her colleague. ‘That might be true but I think this place is key. Say whoever took Toby all those years ago is our driver; maybe he was looking to bury Isaac in the same place he’d left the first boy? The problem is that all these buildings have now appeared. Because of that, he was going to bury Isaac in the closest place to where we’re standing. Somewhere it was unlikely to be found. We never would have found the spot in the woods if he hadn’t had that car crash.’

‘So do you think Toby is buried somewhere around here?’

Jessica shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Perhaps. Maybe he is in the woods where we’re digging? I just think it’s a bit of a coincidence that we found one dead kidnapped child in a car with a map leading us to a place so close to where Toby went missing from.’

‘Why would that person bury the clothes?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe it was some weird way of returning the clothes to Toby if that is where he was buried? Or perhaps he’s buried here like I said? It could explain the map. Let’s say Toby was killed, and his body was buried somewhere around here before the warehouses went up. Whoever did it kept the clothes for whatever reason and then, fourteen years later, kidnapped Isaac. At some point those clothes were buried in the closest spot to where Toby was, maybe as a sick goodbye? When Isaac was killed too, that person was going to bury his body in the same place. It could explain why our guy needed the map because he made it when leaving the clothes after finding out all these warehouses had been built.’

Reynolds seemed slightly confused and not entirely convinced. He replied quietly. ‘I’m not sure . . . you know we’ll never be able to dig the whole area up around that warehouse just in case there’s something there. We’d need proper evidence.’

Jessica agreed. ‘I know. I’m just thinking out loud. We need to find out who the driver is but we’re nowhere near getting that digital impression.’

‘I’ve asked, so has Jack. They say they’re having to guess the bone structure because there was so much damage done to the skull. It doesn’t sound like it’s very simple. They have other things on the go too. We’ve been checking missing persons reports every day with no luck. It’s hard without a photo we can realistically use.’

Jessica knew he was right. She and Reynolds climbed into the car but instead of starting the engine, Jessica took out her phone and put it on loud-speaker mode before calling Izzy’s desk phone. The constable answered on the second ring.

‘Hello.’

‘Hey, it’s Jess. I’m with Jason. Have you got anything yet?’

‘Bits, it’s been Dave mainly to be honest. Hang on.’ The line sounded muffled for a few moments as Jessica could hear someone moving around and then Rowlands’s voice.

‘Jess?’

‘Yep, it’s me. Have you got anything yet on those men from the Whittaker files?’

Rowlands cleared his throat before answering. ‘Yes, first off, the teacher Ian Sturgess. Basically, we don’t have a clue. He moved house within about six months of Toby going missing, then left the school he was working at around ten years ago. As far as we can tell he no longer teaches plus he moved from that other house he was living in. There doesn’t seem to be anyone locally who matches the age and name, although we’re still trying to check nationally.’

‘What about the neighbour?’

‘We’re not sure, we might have something. We know Simon Hill moved quite a few years ago but his name is fairly common. We’ve had a few age matches and called around. We managed to eliminate all but one. We’ve got a phone number which no one is answering but we have an address too. We’ve been waiting for someone senior to get back.’

Jessica asked him for the address and Reynolds noted it down, along with the name of Simon’s wife.

Traffic was heavy as they made their way out to Bury to the north of the city. By the time they arrived, the sun had almost set and street lights were beginning to flicker on. Any rain that might have been around had cleared, along with the clouds, but that created a larger problem with dew already beginning to set and an overnight frost an inevitability. Jessica didn’t know exactly where she was going but Reynolds directed her to the road where they believed Simon Hill had lived and they eventually found the correct house. The lights were on inside the property.

The temperature had dropped significantly in the last hour. Jessica shivered as she got out of the vehicle and Reynolds asked her if she was okay. She waved away his concerns, wondering how the digging crew would fare the next day if the soil froze overnight.

She rang the doorbell of the house and instantly knew there was someone in, as she could hear what sounded like a vacuum cleaner switch off moments after the chime. The detectives waited as the door was opened by a short woman somewhere in her late forties. She had long grey hair and was wearing a knee-length skirt and blouse, as if she had been working in an office.

‘Hello,’ she said, a puzzled look on her face.

‘Are you Paula Hill?’ Jessica asked.

‘Yes, who’s asking?’

‘I’m Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel and this is my colleague, DI Reynolds.’ Jessica glanced down at a pad of paper and read out the address of where Simon Hill lived fourteen years previously. ‘Can I ask if you’ve ever lived at that house?’ she added.

‘Why do you need to know?’

‘It’s complicated at the moment.’

The woman shrugged. ‘Yes, Simon and myself lived there for a few years but we moved ages ago. What’s the problem?’