They chatted all the way to their destination. Jason had worked for an estate agency in the centre of York. Geraldine followed Ian inside where a young blonde woman was sitting behind a desk. The desk beside her was empty. Behind her two middle-aged men were staring at computer screens. The young woman rose to her feet with a welcoming smile. Geraldine went over to her while Ian went to speak to the two men seated further back in the room.

‘Hello, please sit down. I’m Alex. What are you looking for –’

‘Thank you. We’re not here to buy a property.’ Geraldine cut off the agent’s friendly patter, and held up her identity card as she spoke. ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Geraldine Steel, and that’s Detective Inspector Ian Peterson over there, talking to your colleagues.’

The young woman’s expression grew sombre. ‘I take it you’re here about Jason?’

‘Yes, I’m afraid you’re right.’

The estate agent let out an impatient sigh. ‘Will this take long? Only I’ve got a viewing in an hour.’

‘We’ll be as quick as we can. Did Jason have any enemies that you were aware of?’

‘We didn’t talk about personal matters. We were here to work.’

‘How did he seem recently? Did you notice him looking stressed?’

‘You mean before he left?’ She paused. ‘We heard he’s dead. What happened to him?’ Unexpectedly, her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

‘Did you notice anything unusual before he disappeared?’ Geraldine asked, ignoring the other woman’s question.

Alex shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not,’ she replied. ‘He was at work as usual and then he was off on the Friday because he was going away.’ She screwed up her pretty face in an attempt to remember. ‘He said he was going to a stag party; I can’t remember where. Anyway, that was a couple of weeks ago and after that he never came back and now… well, he won’t be back, will he?’

A single tear rolled down her cheek and she dabbed at it with a tissue. Geraldine couldn’t help noting the contrast between Alex and Jessica. Geraldine and Ian compared notes in the car on the way back to the police station. Ian agreed it was perhaps interesting that Alex appeared so distressed on hearing about Jason’s death. They wondered whether Jason and Alex could have been having an affair. But a little digging revealed that Alex had a boyfriend, and they could only conclude that Jason had been well liked at work, nothing like the cruel and violent man he seemed to be at home. No one working at the estate agency had been able to shed any light on what had happened to him.

‘Another one ticked off the list,’ Ian said as they reached the police station. ‘And we’re no closer to finding out why he was killed.’