‘Not a lot, and much as it pains me to say this, I’m not going to be able to come to the scene with you. I have to go to a meeting. I thought Philippa might let me off the hook, but I thought wrong. Anyway, you don’t need me there. It’s in north Manchester and it looks like it started as a domestic and ended in murder.’

Tom handed Becky the details he had received and she quickly scanned them.

‘The property is still taped off at the front with surveillance in place in case the woman turns up, unlikely as it seems. But the crime-scene team have finished their work, so I suggest you catch up with the DI who was running the show and get yourself over there. Is that okay?’

‘There’s no sign of the woman?’ Becky asked.

‘None. They have started a poster campaign in case anyone’s seen her, but there’s been nothing up to now, and we’re not really expecting there to be. We’ve had reports that the couple were seen having a violent argument, so I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. Names are Ian Fullerton and Caroline Baldwin.’

‘No problem. Are you going to be around for the rest of the day after your meeting’s finished?’

Tom felt uncomfortable. It was supposed to be his day off, although under the circumstances he wouldn’t normally have taken the time. But today he was planning to go home. He had decided there was nothing to be lost by asking Nathan for his sister’s computer, and he had arranged for him to drop it off that afternoon.

Hannah’s disappearance was too far down the priority list for the laptop to be analysed by the technicians in the missing-persons team, so he had simply told Nathan he had a friend who was quite good at that sort of thing. Nathan had seemed grateful that something was being done, even if it wasn’t official, and said he was happy to bring it to Tom’s house.

Another good reason to go home was Louisa. Tom had sent her a brief text, telling her to take all the time she needed to come to a decision, but if she wanted to talk more he would be home by lunchtime. He said he would love her to get to know his ‘unexpected visitor’, as he referred to Jack.

He had heard nothing, but her hectic schedule often meant communication was sketchy, so he wasn’t too concerned about her failure to reply. He wanted to be home, though, just in case.