Stone was in his office, reading the reports from his various teams, when he received the summons. He had spoken to the DCI after the briefing earlier, so he couldn't imagine what his superior needed to see him about urgently - if there had been any developments, he should have been notified before the DCI.

"Nate, we've got a problem," Collins said without preamble.

Another one, Stone couldn't help thinking - after an armed robbery, a hit-and-run, and a kidnapping in less than a week, he could only wonder what else had happened. "What sort of problem, sir?" he asked.

"I understand Detective Grey told you he couldn't find DS Mason earlier." Stone responded in the affirmative. "Well he's been found; it seems he was on the way to work when he witnessed a purse snatching – he left his car and gave chase; unfortunately, during the chase he fell down the steps of the East Walk Underpass, broke his leg and knocked himself out. While he was out of it, someone, presumably the purse snatcher, took his wallet and mobile, not to mention his keys, warrant card and cuffs.

"Which is why we've only just found out where he is. Once he woke up, he was able to tell people who he is, and let us know where he is. He's going to be out of action for about two months, perhaps longer, which, I'm afraid to say, means you're going to have to take over the investigation into the festival robbery and the hit-and-run, while running the kidnapping."

"That's not going to be easy, sir," Stone said. He didn't like the thought of trying to run two important investigations simultaneously.

"I appreciate that, Nate, but there's nothing to be done about it," Collins told his inspector. "Both the festival robbery and the Keating kidnapping are too important to leave to a junior officer. I'm sure between you and Stephen you'll manage." He had confidence in Stone. "You're both very good officers, and you're making good progress with the kidnapping."

Stone recognised the compliment for the flattery it was, still, he accepted it with a nod of gratitude. "I'll do my best, sir," he said. "As will Steven."

"I'm glad to hear it. Now, you'd better check in with Grey, I believe he's made some progress with the festival investigation."

Stone nodded. "Yes, sir, he called me earlier. He had a couple of witnesses come forward first thing this morning with a description of the car used in the hit-and-run, they were able to provide the license number of the vehicle, apparently."

"I know; things have progressed beyond that, however. I don't know the details, you'll have to check with Grey to get them, but I do know he's been busy while we tried to locate Mason."

"Before you go," Collins stopped Stone as he was heading for the door. "You should know, I was forced to release Ben Logan earlier, his solicitor was kind enough to point out that he had been in custody for twenty-four hours. I reviewed the evidence, but there wasn't enough to charge him, or to justify keeping him for any longer.

"I realise he's almost certainly the second person from the festival," he said quickly to forestall a protest that Stone showed no sign of actually making. "But right now there's no evidence to back that up. I hope you also realise that there's only five or six hours left for you to find enough evidence to charge Jerry Logan, and David Ashford; if you can't they'll have to be released as well."

"Surely there's enough circumstantial evidence to justify holding Jerry for another twenty-four hours," Stone said, "even if we can't yet charge him."

Collins looked dubious. "I'll review the evidence an hour before he has to be released," he said. "But right now, I'll probably order his release, unless you can come up with something more definite than you currently have – the identification of Jerry Logan from his tattoo is far too tentative, while the lack of a confirmed alibi means nothing, since you can't prove he was involved with the robbery. "As for Mr Ashford – you have no evidence against him whatsoever."

Stone accepted that with a nod. "I'll see what I can come up with between now and seven. Since Mason didn't make it to work this morning, I believe Jerry Logan and Mr Ashford are still waiting to be questioned; I'll make that a priority while Inspector Evans is able to keep an eye on things at the Keatings', he should be able to handle anything that comes up until I can get there."