On the pedestrian island, sandwiched between four lanes of thundering traffic, Robin turned her face to the sky. Beam me up, Scotty, or god, or whoever. Just get me the fuck out of here. ‘All right?’ Maggie mouthed over the roar. She nodded.

Once they were under the bridge, things improved marginally. There was a boarded-up nightclub, a fried-chicken place, a bookies, but the buildings were older and lower-rise, the concrete less dominant. After a block, a pedestrian zone had a handful of actual trees, red Chinese lanterns in their branches, and the Hippodrome where she and Luke had been brought every Christmas by Granny Lyons for the panto. Christopher Biggins wearing tights, pelting the audience with Fox’s Glacier Fruits – good times.

The roar of traffic subsided. ‘What did Lucy have to say?’ Maggie asked, tucking her scarf back under her lapels. Her boots tapped briskly on the paving; Robin could hear them now.

‘Well, she’s sure something’s wrong. Same as Valerie – she wouldn’t just disappear, etc., etc. The main reason being, she’d recently got together with Harry.’

‘Interesting. She hadn’t told Valerie that.’

‘They hadn’t even told her. She guessed.’

‘Did she know why?’

‘They didn’t want to mess up their dynamic, the three of them, she said.’

‘You buy that?’

‘Not entirely.’ Robin stepped out of the path of a cyclist. ‘Anything at Hanley’s?’

‘Don’t think so. He comes across as a decent bloke, Roger Hanley. I liked him.’

‘Lucy said Becca did, too.’

‘He’s old school, courteous. But not in that creepy, patronizing way, you know? Most of his staff have worked there for years, which tells you something – Becca’s boss in accounts has been there twenty-two. She’s really worried, they all are.’

‘Nothing funny going on financially?’ They’d discussed the possibility that Becca might have stolen from work, either money or stock, disappeared when she had enough or because she was afraid of being caught. If she’d needed money, stealing from Hanley’s might have seemed like an answer.

‘No. He got offended when I asked, went all knightly, like I was impugning her honour; talked about exemplary conduct, loyalty, “total honesty and trust”.’

‘Anything going on between them? An affair – a crush?’

‘Didn’t strike me – he seemed more dad-like. His own kids are the same age, not that that means anything. I’ll keep an open mind but so far, he, Hanley’s as a whole – not top of my list. So let’s see about this place.’