‘He never locked her in the car again after that incident?’

‘Of course not,’ I reply. ‘He knew how scared she’d been.’

‘Well, that leads me on to my next set of questions,’ she says, looking down at her notepad. ‘And these are regarding your husband.’

‘Sean,’ I say. ‘Have you found him?’

‘No,’ says Grayling. ‘Though to be honest, he’s not officially missing. Our investigations have pointed to him leaving of his own accord. We just wanted to get your side of the story. Can you think of any reason why he would leave? Were you having problems?’

I think back to that last conversation, the anger in his voice. Things were not good between us, no. But it’s none of her business.

‘Maggie?’

I can’t. Instead I shake my head.

‘No,’ I say. ‘There were no problems. We were just … normal.’

Grayling narrows her eyes.

‘That’s quite rare, don’t you think?’ she presses. ‘To be married all those years and have no arguments? And with a young child as well?’

‘I’m not saying we didn’t argue,’ I say, trying to keep my voice steady. ‘Of course we did. But it was just over silly things. Nothing that would give him grounds for leaving.’

She nods her head but I can tell she doesn’t believe me.

‘Claire said he left just after … after the funeral,’ I say, my voice trembling. ‘And I have no idea why. The police must have spoken to him after the accident. Did he give any hint that he was going to do this?’

‘I did meet Mr Allan,’ says Grayling. ‘I spoke to him in the immediate aftermath and then he came to the station to collect your phone which we’d recovered from the riverbank.’

My phone. It’s the first time I’ve given it a thought.

‘Your husband was in a very bad state,’ continues Grayling. ‘He was grieving for his child. But, no, he didn’t mention leaving, not at that point.’

‘He will come back, won’t he?’ I say, searching her face for some element of reassurance. ‘He can’t have just left for good?’

‘I can’t give you an answer to that, Maggie,’ says Grayling. ‘Though what we know so far doesn’t point to any kind of foul play. If what you say is true and you weren’t having any marital problems then it’s most likely that the shock of your daughter’s death may have prompted him to leave. Grief does strange things to people.’

She stops and stares at me with an odd look on her face. Almost as though there’s something else she wants to say.

‘Anyway, I’ll leave you to get some rest now,’ she says, with a sudden smile. ‘Thanks for answering my questions.’

She stands up and slips the notepad into her pocket.