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Lan went over to the counter and returned with a folder Isaac took it and slid out an x-ray iht box any for new bulbs,’ he said ruefully ‘One of the hazards of x-rays going digital… But this is taken fro in the garden and was hit in the jaw by a cricket ball She was six years old If you can see here, there was no dae, but the x-ray showed that the front teeth are indented and slightly twisted, and the bottom set too is uneven It’s a perfect match’

They looked back at the skeleton The top teeth, brown and crooked, the jawbone lying neatly beside it,up the secrets of the skeleton’s identity

‘I’ve oing off the lab shortly, but I’ all the bases I can confirm this is Jessica Collins’ There was a pause Erika ran her hand through her short blond hair ‘When did you come to the UK, what year?’

‘It was September 1990,’ she replied

‘Do you remember the Jessica Collins case?’

Erika paused for a h the hteen to work as an au pair for the family with two small children in Manchester

‘I don’t know I didn’t speak lish, and it was all a culture shock For the first fewin their house, and I stayed in my room, didn’t have a TV…’ Erika stopped and realised that Isaac’s assistant atching her closely ‘No, I’ on the afternoon of the 7th of August 1990 She left her parents house to go to her friends birthday party in the next street She never arrived at the party They never found her It was as if she’d vanished into thin air It was a major headline story’

Isaac took another piece of paper froirl with a wide s thin belt, a blue cardigan with a white trim, and white sandals with a multi coloured pattern of flowers In the picture she posed in front of a dark wooden door in what looked like a living roorin, with the crooked bottom teeth in the picture, which she could see replicated on the jawbone with asp

‘Yes, I re the picture It had been used in every newspaper story

’And right noe’re the only three people in the world who knohat happened to her,’ said Lan, speaking for the first time

‘Apart from the bastard or bastards who killed her,’ added Erika