‘Of course,’ Dee said, after a moment. Because how could she refuse? She thought of Jake and the time he’d disappeared last year. The terror she’d felt not knowing whether he was okay or not. She wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone.

‘Thanks so much, Dee. I’ve booked into Dean’s Place for the night. If I can’t find Emer by tomorrow I’ll have to go back home. I really hope it won’t come to that.’

Dee knew Dean’s Place. She’d been to several weddings and other events at the hotel on the other side of Alfriston. She put Robert’s number into her phone and sent him a text, so he’d have her number as well. She promised she’d be in touch if she had any news about Emer.

‘Right then,’ he said. ‘I’ll be getting off. When I get home, I’ll see if I can dig out some old photos of me and your dad. If I can find them, I’ll make copies and send them to you.’

‘I’d like that very much,’ Dee said. ‘Thank you.’

As he walked past her, a memory flickered at the back of her mind. Something about him felt familiar to her. It was more than the fact she’d recognised his face from the research she’d done on him. It was something else. A feeling that she’d been close to him recently. But when she tried to focus on the memory it kept sliding away from her until she let it go.

She decided to take one last look around. Maybe as she did, she’d remember why she was so sure she knew him from somewhere. Again, she walked around the outside of the house, peering through the windows. Everything looked the same as it had done yesterday. No sign of anyone hiding behind the stylish furniture in the living room, or beneath the polished wooden table in the dining room. No half-drunk mugs of coffee or dirty plates in the kitchen.

It was only when she reached the back of the house that she saw something had changed. A pane of glass in one of the doors to the extended kitchen had been broken, and the patio was covered in shattered glass. Tentatively, Dee pushed the door and it creaked inwards.

Sunlight streamed through the glass roof and a wave of heat hit her as she stepped inside. She paused, her ears listening out for noises inside the house. But when she heard something, the sound came from behind her. She swung around, but she was too slow. He had already grabbed her, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her arm as he shoved her forward, towards the granite-topped island in the middle of the room.

She started to scream, but he clamped a hand across her face, blocking out the sound.

‘Shut the fuck up.’