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‘Are we sure it’s the same guy?’

DC Roberts nodded cautiously at Charlie, not wishing to betray his evident excitement, lest his lead proved to be another false dawn.

‘As sure as we can be. Same intonation, always keeping the message short and sweet, and in the earliest one, you can hear that same rhythmic, mechanical sound. I think the same guy has made a number of fake tip-offs to the Border Force helpline over the past few months …’

Moving the mouse to a different audio clip, DC Roberts clicked ‘Play’.

‘So there’s a shipment incoming,’ the voice growled. ‘Ten illegals from Syria. Arriving on the 5th on the 1.45 p.m. boat from Rotterdam. The driver’s name is Geert van Biezen and he’s driving a Dutch truck, registration plate 29 KTV 7.’

The line went dead, but the team came alive, exchanging glances.

They were crowded around DC Roberts’ desk, which was littered with coffee cups and biscuit wrappers after a hard night’s trawling, but no one present noticed the mess, their attention squarely on this surprising development.

Charlie was quick to pick up on their energy, responding to Roberts with enthusiasm.

‘So this tip-off was from …?’

‘October the third last year.’

‘And the other one?’

‘January this year.’

Charlie digested the dates, nodding to herself. Suddenly all thoughts of Helen, of Holmes, were forgotten, the prospect of a solid lead consuming her.

‘So the same guy calls three times in the last seven months, always with a tip-off about human trafficking, all of which turn out to be a bust.’

‘That’s about the size of it.’

‘So he’s either a serial hoaxer …’ DC Malik suggested.

‘Or he’s deliberately misleading us, drawing attention away from other trucks coming through perhaps,’ DC Shona Williams added, concluding her colleague’s thought.

‘We’re certain all of these tip-offs came to nothing?’ Charlie queried earnestly.

‘Two of them were complete busts,’ DC McAndrew responded quickly. ‘The third had a moderate supply of hashish on board, but nothing to write home about.’

‘And the port of origin for all three of these trucks was Rotterdam?’ Charlie asked eagerly.

‘Correct.’

‘Which might suggest,’ she continued, ‘that our caller is working with a trafficking outfit operating out of the Netherlands, drawing our eye away from the good stuff to make sure it gets through safely.’

‘Can’t see why else he’d be doing it. This guy made three calls in seven months, so he’s not exactly an obsessive hoaxer and it doesn’t sound like he’s doing it for fun. He’s very efficient, delivering his info swiftly and sharply before ringing off.’

‘Are all the calls made from the same phone number?’ DC McAndrew asked, pipping Charlie to the post.

‘No, three different numbers. But they are all Lenovo pay-as-you-go SIMs and all are used for a couple of days then, presumably, binned.’

‘So he makes a few calls using the same SIM card, before getting rid of it?’ Charlie asked.

‘That’s right. Not sure if the other calls are linked, or whether he’s just being lazy, getting his money’s worth from the SIM card. Too early to say really, we’ve got no idea how much of a pro this guy is.’

‘Any UK numbers that he calls repeatedly? Anything that might suggest he’s ringing a regular contact?’

But DC Roberts was already shaking his head.

‘Not that I can see. A couple of numbers were called twice, but that’s it.’

‘Have we run the rule over those numbers to see if they’re linked to any known offenders? Traffickers, dealers, associates?’

‘Not yet,’ DC Roberts replied cautiously, ‘but they’re mostly pay-as-you-go too, so it’ll be hard to track the owners down …’

‘We should definitely try though,’ Charlie intervened quickly. ‘In the meantime, how many calls has our man made with his current SIM, the one he used to call in the latest tip-off?’

‘Only a couple. The original tip-off, then one more to a payphone in Freemantle.’

‘So it’s possible, probable even, that he might make more calls with it?’ Charlie said, leaning forward, her expression alive.

‘If he follows his usual pattern, then I suppose so …’ DC Roberts replied cautiously.

‘OK then, so whilst we run the rule over his call history, let’s alert the team that we want to triangulate his latest SIM as soon as it becomes active again …’

‘Already on it,’ DC McAndrew said, rising and hurrying away.

Charlie watched her go, her senses alert.

After months of false starts and embarrassing failure, finally they had a potential lead in the case.

Having been ill at ease and despondent this morning, suddenly Charlie felt hopeful, even excited.

They had a suspect in their sights, someone who’d been running rings round them for months.

Now they just had to wait for him to reveal himself.