His thoughts were on Lauren. Fun to be with, demanding no commitment. He’d miss her. Suddenly his mind crowded with memories of Stella: Stella laughing, Stella in his arms, Stella’s beautiful smile. He shook his head to dismiss them. Guilt pricked his conscience. For the moment, however, he’d a case to solve. One he knew would test him to the limit. It was as well Lauren was going back to Cheshire. More guilt; he still hadn’t got round to reading the PNC information. Fortunately, the details couldn’t have prevented the crime, couldn’t have avoided whatever had happened to the missing girl. By mid morning Nash had caught up with some of his delayed reading. It yielded a surprisingly large number of offenders whose profile fitted the search parameters, although there was none who seemed likely to be the suspected abductor. He called Mironova and Pearce into his office. He was about to start when Tom Pratt wandered in. ‘I’ve left the search parties to it. I’m not built for scrambling through undergrowth.
