He smiled, gathering her drift. ‘We would still be in bed. Asleep,’ he added quickly, seeing her grin. ‘We’d get up late –’

‘And go out for breakfast,’ she interrupted.

‘Somewhere out of town,’ he said. ‘We’d drive to a village and sit outside an old pub, quaffing beer.’

‘Outside with all the smokers,’ she said, ‘drinking beer for breakfast.’ She laughed. ‘Maybe we should stick to work after all. Your suggestion doesn’t sound too healthy.’

Ian laughed too. Watching him, she was gratified to see that he seemed to be recovering his usual good humour.

‘No one has been back to question Jason’s work colleagues after the initial flurry of activity,’ Ian said. ‘I wonder whether we ought to do some more digging?’

Geraldine grunted. Jason’s colleagues had of course been notified about his death when his body was discovered four days earlier. They had been told that he was the victim of a fatal accident, but not that he had been killed and his body thrown over a fence. The details of his murder had not yet been made public.

‘They must think it’s a bit odd that he went missing for a week before his alleged accident,’ she replied. ‘And presumably they must know that his daughter’s gone missing. It’s been all over the news. Surely they’ll have joined the dots by now.’

‘All the more reason to go and speak to them to try and scotch any idle talk.’

Geraldine laughed at that. ‘With his high-profile father-in-law murdered, his baby daughter missing, and his own allegedly accidental death, I think it’s going to be impossible to prevent people spreading rumours. But you’re right, we ought to try and keep a lid on things as far as we can.’

Ian stood up. ‘Come on then, let’s go and see Jason’s work colleagues, and find out what they have to say about him.’

As they drove into town, Geraldine tried to pretend they were an ordinary couple going out for the day, not two detectives working a case.

‘As soon as it’s over,’ Ian said, ‘let’s take a week off, go away somewhere, have a break.’

‘That’s exactly what I was thinking,’ she replied with a smile. ‘Where do you fancy going?’

In some ways they knew one another so well, yet she had no idea about the kind of places he liked to visit, or the sort of holidays he preferred.

‘Somewhere interesting,’ he replied. ‘Historical sights, maybe ancient ruins to see, or beautiful architecture, but with empty stretches of beach as well, and not blisteringly hot and definitely not cold.’

She laughed. ‘Sounds perfect. Probably not in England then.’

‘And I want to meet your sister,’ he added. ‘I mean the sister you grew up with. I want to hear all about what you were like when you were younger, and see embarrassing photos of you as a child.’