Brought him up to date on what I had on my missing girl, which was basically a jumble. But along with the confusion I had lines to tug. With the girl missing a week I had some urgency too. Shaughnessy agreed to come into the thing for a few days. Shaughnessy’s view coincided with mine. The Slaters were not in control. Someone had taken their daughter. The question was what to make of the peripheral stuff – Rebecca’s bust-up with her boyfriend, the Cohen character, the thing with her stepfather, and Larry Slater’s fixation with Holland Park. Shaughnessy said he’d talk to someone we knew in the DPP’s office and see if they’d heard of this Cohen guy. Then he’d take a closer look at Jean Slater. I’d take Larry Slater. Shaughnessy sat down to work his phone and I headed out to Islington. I parked on a meter a hundred yards from the Slater–Kline premises and walked down. Waiting for Slater’s call-back wasn’t going to work.
