Initially, she felt as though a weight was slowly lifting from her shoulders as she drove away from York. Usually, the physical distance helped her to think clearly. The key to Daisy’s disappearance lay with her father, although whether her biological father had known, or discovered the truth and returned to claim her or Jason had abducted her was unclear. Given Jason’s disappearance, the likelihood was that Daisy was with him. But it explained nothing, because a man could no more vanish without trace than a baby could. It made no sense. If Jason was responsible, he must have been planning to disappear with Daisy for a long time. But without his passport, and with no trace of him anywhere in the country, his whereabouts remained a mystery.

For once, the long drive didn’t help Geraldine to gain any helpful mental distance from the case she was working on, and she arrived at her sister’s house feeling frustrated. Celia’s household seemed like a shining beacon of domestic happiness compared to the experience of many people Geraldine met in the course of her work.

Celia’s face lit up with pleasure when she saw Geraldine on the doorstep. ‘You came.’

‘I said I would,’ Geraldine replied, returning Celia’s smile.

‘I know, but I was afraid something would turn up at the last minute to keep you in York. It so often does. I mean, I know you can’t help it, but… anyway, you’re here now so come on in. I’m so pleased you could make it, and Chloe’s going to be really excited to see you.’

She flung her arms around Geraldine and gave her a hug. For an instant the warmth of human contact almost reduced Geraldine to tears. She had thought coming to see her family would take her mind off Ian, but Celia’s embrace reminded her how much she missed him.

‘How lucky you’re not tied up on a case this weekend,’ Celia went on.

‘Actually,’ Geraldine admitted, ‘there is an investigation at the moment, but it’s ongoing and it was no problem to get away for a day.’

She didn’t add that she had been desperate to escape from York, and her work, and most of all from Ian. She hadn’t seen Celia for a few months and had been waiting to tell her face to face about her relationship with Ian. Only now it was all over with Ian before she had even blurted out the news. Although she longed to unburden herself to her sister, she was glad she had not yet mentioned her brief romance to her. Celia’s questions, and her sympathy, would probably have made Geraldine cry, and the last thing she wanted was to ruin her sister’s birthday by sharing her misery.

‘Geraldine, are you all right?’

‘Sure. I’m fine, maybe just a bit tired, that’s all.’