‘It won’t be for long,’ DS Wright says calmly, ‘as I said this morning, Mr Jessop, it’s all part of the routine search. It’s important we get this done, and with your co-operation.’ I note the way she calls Dominic ‘Mr Jessop’, no longer using his first name in that easy way of that first day, three weeks ago. ‘While you’re all here, there is one other thing.’

We all stand in silence, eyes on Wright as Kelly shifts uncomfortably next to her, waiting to hear what she is about to say.

‘We’d like to take you all in to the station, just to go over a few things. It shouldn’t take too long.’ She turns on her heel, leaving Kelly to walk us all to the waiting patrol cars. I feel sick, my stomach churning and my palms clammy. What do they think they know?

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 20

I am left waiting for what feels like an interminable amount of time, but in reality, is probably no more than maybe half an hour or so before a police officer enters the room. It is more formal this time than when DS Wright last talked to us all about Laurel going missing – it’s exactly as I imagined a police interview room to be, cold and stark, designed to make you uncomfortable in an effort to make you spill the beans. I shift in my seat, a hard, plastic chair reminiscent of school days, as she takes a seat opposite me, and I realise she is familiar to me – she is one of the officers called out on that first night.

‘Hi, Anna. My name is DC Bishop, I’ve been working with DS Wright on Laurel’s disappearance. I’m going to record this interview, OK?’ As she runs through the official stuff, like my right to legal counsel, she leans forward, pressing a button on the tape recorder that sits on the desk between us. Her blouse is ever so slightly too small, and I see the fabric at her shoulders pull at the seams as she stretches over. There is a hard, cold lump in my stomach, and I swallow. I am scared, there is no other word for it.

‘Would you like some water?’ DC Bishop pushes a glass towards me and I take it, careful not to spill it as my hands shake. ‘Anna . . . there are a few things we’d like to go over with you, with regards to Laurel’s disappearance. Can you tell me again exactly what happened that night?’