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problem.
    Lynne came back into the kitchen. She’d dressed and applied make-up to her cheerless face.
    She said, “Now what do we do?” I ignored the contempt in her voice.
    â€œI think it’s best if you stay at home today in case Nick or Georgie make contact. I’ll go down to the police station and chivvy them up. I’ll call you later.
    â€œOh, I’m going to tell them something which may help. Sit down for a minute. Let me explain.”
    I left nothing out, finishing with, “I didn’t
want
to blackmail him. I tried hard to reason with him. If he’d agreed, I’d never have had to show him the photos. You know what he’s like. He wouldn’t compromise. I had no option.”
    She glared at me with increasing antagonism.
    Eyes blazing, she said, “You lied to me. You said he’d backed off because you’d persuaded him to. Now my son’s been taken away by a drug dealer. Thanks a lot!”
    She stormed out of the kitchen again before I could say anything. I desperately wanted to hold her tight, tell her how much she meant to me.
    I followed her. I pleaded, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! You know I’ll do anything to get Georgie back. Anything. I’ll call you later.” The door slammed shut in my face mid-sentence.

CHAPTER FOUR
    April 1996

    Later that morning, I went back to the police station and asked to speak to DS Evans.
    I told him about my meetings with Roger Pendleton and Nick. When I finished, he said, “What did Burrows say when he left you?”
    â€œHe just said, ‘I’ll see.’ After that, he seemed to respond. He’s not harassed Lynne since. I thought I’d cracked the problem.”
    â€œSo you thought you’d
cracked the problem
? By taking the law into your own hands?” His Welsh accent heightened the sarcasm in his voice.
    â€œLeave the video tape with me. It’ll help us get the search warrants we need to search Burrows’ flat.”
    â€œHave you made any progress?”
    â€œI suggest you come back this evening with Ms Burrows, say about six. I’ll update you both then.”
    He opened the door for me to go and said, “I’ll think about what we do about your blackmail attempt.”
    â€œLook, all I wanted was for him to obey the court order not to harass Lynne. It’s not a big ask, is it?”
    *
    â€œWe’ve made headway in this case. I assume you’ve heard nothing your end?” DS Evans appeared bullish when Lynne and I turned up at the police station that evening. She’d hardly said a word to me on the way there.
    â€œNo,” I replied, “nothing.”
    â€œWell, it’s good news and bad news. The bad news is I can confirm they’ve left the country.”
    Lynne let out a loud, “Oh no!” and slumped further down in her chair and covered her face with her hands.
    â€œThe good news is that we know where they went. There are only four flights a day to Orlando out of Gatwick, so it easily checked out. We’ve confirmation they left on a British Airways flight at 11.20am on Sunday.”
    DS Evans was coming down with a cold and he blew his nose noisily as Lynne started crying. I tried consoling her by trying to clutch her hand. She immediately withdrew it.
    He continued, “You’ll be pleased to know we got the warrants we applied for. We’ve searched Burrows’ flat and impounded a PC, and as we speak, our computer geeks are going through the hard drive.”
    â€œHow long will that take?”
    â€œHard to say, but I can already tell you an unsuccessful attempt had been made to wipe out the memory. That may be significant. We’ll have more information tomorrow afternoon.” He wiped his nose again and replaced his handkerchief carefully in his pocket.
    â€œIt would help if we knew which credit cards Burrows uses. Do you have any idea, Ms Burrows?”
    Lynne, who’d appeared