Patrick blinked. ‘Has Georgia replied to your text yet?’

She checked her phone, her brow creasing a tiny amount. ‘No. Hmm, she has been a long time.’

‘You didn’t answer my question about money,’ Patrick said, sipping his lemonade.

April thought about it. ‘She always wants money for something or other. I know she wants us to get her some swanky car when she passes her test. But she hasn’t been begging us for cash any more than usual.’

‘Do you know Alice Philips and Larry Gould?’

Her face lit up. ‘Yes. Of course. Alice is Georgia’s best friend and Larry is her adorably chavvy boyfriend.’

‘Has Georgia said anything to you about them recently?’

‘No. Well, there’s that dreadful business with Alice’s little sister, but Georgia doesn’t like talking about that, says it upsets her too much.’

‘We really need to talk to Georgia, April.’ He put his empty glass down. ‘It’s serious. It’s connected to Frankie’s disappearance.’

‘What? Why?’

‘Georgia was at Alice’s house the night Frankie disappeared.’

‘Oh. I see. And you want to ask her if she saw anything. Well, I’m sure she would have said something to me if she had.’

‘I still need to talk to her.’ He was itching to tell her about the video that her liberated daughter was responsible for making. Would she be shocked? Was it prudish and old-fashioned of him to be shocked by it? Online porn, celebrity sex tapes and viral videos depicting acts that Patrick didn’t even want to imagine were, to Georgia’s generation, as commonplace and ordinary as reality TV and wi-fi. He guessed April would be relaxed about it too – as long as it wasn’t her daughter actually starring in it.

‘I’m not sure how I can help you further, detective.’

‘Can you try calling her again?’

‘Yes. You know, I’d lost track of time but she’s been gone for hours.’ She picked up her phone. ‘It’s still going straight to voicemail.’

‘As if it’s switched off?’

‘Yes. It’s unusual, to be honest. The phone is like an extension of her. She normally replies to texts within seconds.’ She crossed to the window. ‘I hope she hasn’t collapsed in this heat. Maybe she’s gone to the flat.’

Alice had told Patrick that the porn video had been filmed at Georgia’s parents’ flat.

‘It’s on her usual route,’ April said, ‘and she’s got a key. I’m worrying now.’ She chewed her lip. ‘Maybe I’ll nip down to the flat to take a look.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

Patrick followed April in her top-of-the-range Discovery, thinking about his interview with Alice as he drove. In the final minutes, after she had told them about Georgia, another mystery had been solved: the mystery of why she had been unconscious on the sofa when Helen and Sean got home that night.