9

Rex --->

(One Week Later)

"Are you alright?" Marafioti asked Adrian.

Adrian glanced at the detective, before he shook his head, looking nauseous.

"What if he sees this?" He hissed. "What if he kills Rachel before someone recognises her somewhere?"

Marafioti had managed to secure a five-minute slot on a local crime-buster program. He would give a quick interview and give the show a photograph of Rachel, and quickly summarize what they knew so far.

"We need to risk it, Adrian. We have no leads. We need to know if anyone's seen them at all."

Marafioti couldn't stop himself from flattening Adrian's hair affectionately.

Adrian shot him a look, and smoothed his hair carefully; Marafioti could actually see him tremble when the opening credits began playing on the screen beside the three cameras surrounding them.

Adrian barely felt the detective squeeze his shoulder reassuringly, as he watched him move into the camera shot to be interviewed.

*

"Marafioti! We've got a promising one!"

Marafioti went over to his partner for the case, Detective Rex Barnett, and glanced over his shoulder at the notes he was making.

The TV appearance Dom had made had generated plenty of phone calls. Most of the leads were quickly ruled out by CCTV footage.

"What is it?" Dom asked eagerly.

"A call from a police station near Nottingham. Just over a week ago, the day Rachel was abducted, they received a call about a carjacking involving an old lady, a man in his mid-thirties, and a young girl. The girl fits Rachel's description."

"What happened?"

"The guy hauls the lady from her car, hits her with something - they don't know what - shoves the girl inside and drives off. He left his car behind."

"Why'd he do that?

"His car broke down. It's been checked all over; no DNA, fibres, nothing from the guy, but they're going over the car again, just in case. They've got one long hair, presumed to be Rachel's. It's being checked against the sample we took from her hairbrush now. He obviously had time to wipe everything down before he jacked the old lady's car."

"Does the lady remember what he looks like?" Marafioti asked excitedly.

Barnett shook his head.

"She lost consciousness at the scene. Paramedics took her to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead."

"Who's the witness?"

"A young couple in the car behind the old lady. They weren't going to stop to help the bloke, but the old lady did. Tentative description of the bloke says he had short brown hair, dark eyes; he was Caucasian, between five eleven and six two, and burly. Nothing clearer than that; they said everything happened too fast."

"The witnesses weren't quick enough to stop him taking the girl?"

Barnett shook his head.

"They did say she wasn't resisting at all. He probably drugged her with something. Or knocked her out."

Marafioti sighed.

"Have either of them worked with the police artist yet?"

Barnett nodded.

"These are the sketches they came up with between them."

"The guy looks completely different," Marafioti snapped, glaring at the two sketches Barnett handed him.

"I know. But this is the best lead we've got so far."