She turned the page towards Relf.
"Bull was checking the connection."
Relf leaned closer.
Beneath it was another line:
M.S. knows who 8 is. Won't tell me. Afraid?
"He thought she knew," Eleanor said.
"And that she was afraid to say."
"Then the envelope may have told her something he'd found."
Relf read the entry again.
"We need to speak to her."
Eleanor looked at the postcard's decoded message.
SUN 2340 / 8 / LAMB
"She might be coming here."
"To meet Eight?"
"Or because someone told her to."
A search for Margaret Sayer's name did not establish a crossing.
Relf asked for her car to be traced.
French authorities found it several hours later in a long-stay parking area at Calais, away from the passenger terminal.
There was no indication of where she had gone after leaving it.
Eleanor examined the photograph sent with the report.
"Another vehicle?"
"Possibly."
"Could she already be in Britain?"
"Yes. We haven't accounted for her."
"Under her own name?"
"We're checking that."
"And other names?"
"If we can identify any."
Eleanor brought Sayer's photograph closer. Grey hair, glasses, an unremarkable coat. She would not stand out among passengers arriving from France.
"She had her passport. She could have crossed normally."
"She could."
"But if she wanted no record of the journey —"
Relf looked up.
"The network."
Eleanor nodded towards the message.
"Lamb was used before. Bull had it in the entry linked to Marianne Voss."
"That doesn't mean Sayer will use it."
"No. But we should check what could reach it."
Relf picked up the telephone.
"We'll ask about boats as well as ferries."
Eleanor wrote Sayer's departure beside Claire's visit, leaving a space for the time.
They still did not know what Bull had put in the envelope, who had sent the postcard, or where Sayer was now.
But they had a date and a place someone wanted them to attend.