It occurred to her suddenly that her record might make her less credible, even suspicious. Could they think she was some kind of serial aider and abetter? No, paranoid – get a grip. But even if they thought she was unreliable because of Hinton … ‘Anyway, the dismissal was unfair and I’m going to appeal.’

‘Right,’ said Thomas, neutral. Impossible to judge how she meant it. ‘You were with the Met for thirteen years, yeah, so you know time’s critical? If this is a spousal murder, and that’s the most likely explanation at the moment, whether we like it or not, it’s crucial we find Josh quickly. For his own protection.’

Murder–suicide. In cases where one partner killed the other, he or she frequently killed him or herself afterwards, either straight away, at the scene, or days, even months later.

‘And if something drove him to it,’ said Patel, ‘if she was having an affair or planning to leave him, he could plead loss of control. That’s allowable as a defence. It would be manslaughter, not murder – you would be help—’

‘Jon-Jaques Clinton, 2012,’ Robin said. ‘The Court of Appeal quashed his murder conviction for killing his wife because of the qualifying trigger – she left him for another man, wrote about it on Facebook. They ruled sexual infidelity allowable for a defence of Loss of Control, going against the legislation that had been passed in 2009.’ Teaching her to suck eggs, bloody cheek. Evidently, her right as a woman to be patronized was the one thing that hadn’t expired now she was off the job.

‘Where would he go?’ Thomas now. ‘Anything you can think of. Did he have ties somewhere else? Family? Friends?’

She thought, trying to clear space in her head, but there was nothing. ‘Most of his friends and family are here. There’ll be university mates who moved away after – Josh was at Aston – but a lot stayed local. The Legges are Brummie to the bone, they’ve been here since time immemorial – even the factory’s third or fourth generation.’

‘Is there a place he knows well where he might try to lie low? How about holidays? Did they have somewhere they went back to repeatedly? Somewhere they all loved?’

Did, loved. Past tense. ‘No, not really. They went to Italy and Greece a lot but different places every time. Different islands.’ A wave of frustration. ‘Look, it looks bad, I know, especially the car, but this wasn’t Josh. What other lines are you following?’

‘What other lines should we follow?’

‘Burglary gone wrong.’ Her turn to teach the egg-sucking.

‘Though, of course, most killers are known to their victims.’ Touché.

‘Then some kind of misguided kidnapping attempt. They lived in a biggish house, Josh owned a factory – someone who didn’t know better might have come to the conclusion they’re loaded.’

‘But they’re not?’