Lake exhaled and looked down at his hands in his lap. ‘I was young and naive when I met Lana. I thought … I thought that she was all I’d ever need. She liked the things I liked, enjoyed the same sports, liked the same clubs, the same music and films. I thought I’d met my soulmate. My parents were livid when they found out we were engaged. They said I was rushing things – but I was in love. Or I thought I was in love. I was infatuated. And within a few months she was pregnant. We married in the town hall when she was four months gone. I thought we were set for life.’

‘But?’ said Bloom.

Lake looked at the ceiling and then at Bloom. ‘None of it was real. She was … I can’t describe it. She was sort of empty.’ He reached for a biscuit and broke it in half. ‘She just tuned out. I couldn’t get any response. She couldn’t have a conversation without hurling abuse at me. I thought it was pregnancy hormones, but she just got worse after Jane was born. As far as Lana was concerned, the baby was hers. I had no say and no rights. All she wanted was my money. She kept pushing me to get a better job. She wanted a better house, nicer clothes, foreign holidays. She was killing me. And when I couldn’t keep up, she …’ Thomas looked at the broken biscuit in his hands. He placed both halves back on the plate and brushed the crumbs from his palms. He looked at Jameson. ‘Do you know Jane?’

Jameson nodded. How had Lake clocked that?

‘Is she OK? I mean, other than going missing … has she been happy?’

‘She’s a great kid, very mature and capable, probably because she’s had to mother her mother.’

Thomas frowned.

‘We think Lana might be a psychopath,’ said Jameson.

The stunned look on Thomas Lake’s face was mirrored on Bloom’s. She clearly didn’t approve of Jameson’s blunt pronouncement, but Jameson wanted the man to know what a bloody awful decision leaving his daughter with Lana had been.

‘I’m sorry, Thomas,’ said Bloom, leaning forward in her chair. ‘What Marcus means is that we think Lana may have an extreme personality type. We don’t think she’s necessarily dangerous, we simply believe—’

‘No, I agree.’ Lake looked at Bloom and then at Jameson. ‘I’ve never said it out loud to anyone, not even Suzanne, but I’ve always thought my first wife was a psychopath. It’s a relief to hear you say that.’

Jameson clenched his fists, trying to get a handle on his temper. Then he spoke as calmly as he could. ‘And yet you left Jane with her?’