‘Worried sick but pretending not to be.’

Hannah nodded as the drinks arrived. Green tea for her, a herbal infusion for him that smelt of berries and hay.

Vic smiled at the girl with a look of complicity, colleagues together, then turned to Hannah.

‘So tell me what you know.’ His accent had a Dundee twang that Mel’s didn’t. It was strange how people could grow up in the same family and sound so different from each other.

She told him the timeline since Mel went missing. The conversation with the police, the chat with Xander. She hadn’t heard from Mum yet about Bradley Barker.

Vic’s frown deepened and his hand went to his hair again. She watched the muscle in his arm flex.

‘What do you make of this Xander kid,’ he said.

He was only three years older than Mel but seemed mature enough to think of students as kids.

Hannah shrugged. ‘Not sure. He was flirting with a girl when I walked in, but if every guy who flirted was guilty, well.’

Vic nodded. He’d never flirted with Hannah but he knew she was gay from the start, which made a difference. Maybe he was gay himself, though Hannah didn’t think so. The way he looked at the waitress a minute ago.

Vic leaned forwards like he was part of a conspiracy. ‘Did she ever mention anyone else?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Another guy.’

Hannah chewed at her lip then sipped her tea, not bitter enough. ‘I would’ve known if she was seeing someone else.’

‘Are you sure?’65

‘Did she say something to you about another boyfriend?’

‘She didn’t, but I had a feeling.’

‘Why?’

‘We had lunch last week and she mentioned being out the night before in a hotel bar. I thought that was strange, students can’t afford to drink in hotels. I asked but she was vague, said she was on a date then changed the subject.’

‘That doesn’t sound like Mel.’

Vic shrugged. ‘How well do we know anyone? Mum and Dad don’t know Mel at all, they don’t like the idea of her being with any guy, let alone more than one. There’s a whole bunch of stuff they don’t know about.’

‘What do you mean?’

Vic sighed, leaned back. ‘She was pretty wild at school.’

Hannah laughed at the idea. ‘Come on.’

The look on Vic’s face stopped her laugh.

‘She didn’t want her uni friends to find out,’ he said. ‘She changed a lot when she came here. Straightened out.’

‘What sort of stuff?’

‘She just had no off switch. Lots of booze, coke and ketamine. Boys. And men, older men. She had a reputation in some of the Dundee clubs.’

‘Where did that come from?’

Vic shook his head, as if everyone’s motivations in life were a mystery. ‘Maybe that’s why she wasn’t shouting about this other guy.’