Even if the baby did turn out to be Ian’s, his marriage to Bev must still be over. How could he live with her as his wife again, knowing he could never trust her? It was unthinkable that he would take her back, however beautiful she was. Plenty of fathers didn’t live with their children full-time. And if discovering he had fathered a child was no reason for him to resurrect his marriage, then it need not prevent him from resuming his relationship with Geraldine. So she resolved to be optimistic. If her hopes were ultimately disappointed, she told herself she would be no worse off than she had been before Ian moved in with her. But she knew that wasn’t true. Her disappointment was already sharper than a physical pain, and no doctor could prescribe a palliative for this suffering.

Lying in bed later that night, she was unable to sleep. Thinking about everything Ian had said, she was startled when her phone rang. Hardly daring to hope he was calling to say he was on his way back to her, she answered. Her disappointment was fierce when she heard a constable speaking to her from the police station.

‘To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether to call you,’ he said, ‘but the duty sergeant said you went to see David and Anne Armstrong earlier, so we both thought you’d be the best person to speak to her, even though it’s late.’

‘What’s this about?’ she asked. ‘You do know it’s past midnight?’

Despite her snappy response, Geraldine was pleased to be given something to take her mind off her own disappointment.

‘We had a call from Anne Armstrong,’ the constable explained. ‘We thought you might want to know, seeing as you’ve seen them and spoken to them about their missing granddaughter.’

‘What does she want at this hour?’ Geraldine asked, with a sudden hope that the baby had turned up.

‘She said her husband went out to the car wash five hours ago and never returned, and she’s worried something’s happened to him. She’s tried his phone repeatedly, but he’s not answering.’

‘The car wash?’ Geraldine repeated, not yet catching the drift of the call. ‘So this isn’t about the missing baby?’

‘No, it’s nothing to do with the baby. At least, I don’t think it is. She called to say her husband went out to the car wash and he never came home.’

‘Very well,’ Geraldine said. ‘Leave it with me for now.’

‘Yes, Sarge. Thank you.’