Lennon patted her hand, but without condescension. ‘I can see how you think that, Helen, but please know that we have a lot of bodies out doing just that, plus more officers scouring CCTV footage from around your house. My job is to build up a picture of your lives together, and I assure you that it’s just as important.’

He handed her a tissue and she blew her nose.

‘Sean had a couple of girlfriends, I think. He did a bit of internet dating. But when Alice was about six she started to object to him going out and leaving her with babysitters. So he didn’t see anyone for a couple of years, then he met me. We met at Alice’s school summer fair. I was there with my friend Samantha whose daughter Celia is my god-daughter. They’d roped me into helping her on the face-painting stall. Sean and Alice came along and we got chatting when I was painting Alice as a tiger. He checked that I wasn’t married, then asked me out for a drink.’

Helen remembered that first look at Alice’s pretty little face then, back when it had been a blank canvas, no tiger whiskers or stripes of hidden resentment and secret fury. How she’d been so attracted to this sexy dad that she could barely paint the orange marks on Alice’s cheeks in straight lines.

‘And how did Alice cope with you going out with her dad?’

Helen sighed. ‘Not brilliantly. Tantrums and so on. It wasn’t easy, and if I hadn’t been so in love with Sean I might have given up. But we persevered, and now Alice and I are basically fine.’

‘Basically?’

‘She’s fifteen. Everything’s a drama. She’s not afraid of having a go at me – or at Sean. But she adores Frankie, and would never do anything to hurt her. She’ll be devastated that she’s missing. How long will you need to keep her here?’

‘Just till we’ve got her statement too. She’s what we call a Significant Witness. Your neighbours, Mr and Mrs—’ He consulted his notes. ‘—Jameson, have kindly offered to put you all up when we take you back. Your place is a crime scene for the moment, I’m afraid.’

‘Pete and Sally. Oh. That’s so kind of them. But OK.’

‘So, tell me, Helen, has Frankie ever wandered off before?’

Helen sat up straight, gritting her teeth with sudden fury. ‘Before? What do you mean, before? She’s never wandered off, full-stop, and certainly wouldn’t have done tonight! Once she’s asleep she rarely wakes up till dawn. There’s a stairgate at the top of the stairs that she can’t open, she can’t reach the front door Yale lock, and even if the back door had been left unlocked, she couldn’t have got out through the garden gate.’