Gone

November in the West Country, and evening is closing in as DI Jack Caffery arrives to interview the victim of a stolen car. But this is no ordinary theft. The man who's stolen the car was wearing a Santa Claus mask. And, on the back seat, packing away the shopping, was an eleven year-old girl.

And she's still missing.

Sergeant Flea Marley has heard about the car-jacker, and is waiting for Caffery when he leaves the police station later that night. He's done it before, she tells Caffery. Twice. Same guy. Same mask. Only previously he's let the girls go. Now he hasn't.

A day later the car is found. Inside, there's a letter. 'It's started', the letter states, 'and it ain't going to stop just sudden now, is it? And Caffery knows that soon the jacker will choose another random car, and another driver, the only important thing being the child in the back seat. It'll be a girl. A girl he's going to steal away.

Caffery's a good and instinctive cop; the best in the business, some say. But this time something's badly wrong. This time the jacker seems to be ahead of him u every step of the way a