I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Yes, I was suspicious of Dominic, but I had nothing concrete to back my gut feeling up. ‘I didn’t . . . I mean, I don’t . . .’ I manage to stammer out, flicking my eyes towards Wright, a knot of terror building in my chest at the thought of everything I told DC Bishop in my interview, of her and DI Dove thinking I was in on it with Dominic.

‘You said to me that day at the church,’ Fran says, ‘you had a feeling then, didn’t you? That Dominic was lying about something.’ Before I can reply she turns to Wright and carries on speaking, her words tumbling out over one another as she barely pauses for breath. ‘Has he told you where she is? Did you find Laurel? Anna, come on, get your jacket, we’ll need to go now and see her . . . we can see her, can’t we?’ Now she halts, her chest hitching. DS Wright looks uncomfortable, rocking slightly on her heels, and Kelly steps forward.

‘Fran, Dominic hasn’t told us where she is yet.’ Kelly’s voice is quiet, and she hesitates for a moment, her hand in the air as if to place it reassuringly on Fran’s arm, before she thinks better of it, and lets her hand drop to her side. ‘He’s denying knowing anything about what happened to Laurel that night.’

‘So how have you arrested him? Something must have happened to make you people think he’s guilty? You don’t simply arrest people with no reason.’

‘There is something,’ Wright says, ‘a few things, in fact. We do need to talk to you about some things that have come to light. Are you OK to talk here, or would you rather . . .?’

‘No. Here is fine. Anna, come and sit by me.’ Fran pats the seat next to her distractedly and I slowly move towards her, my legs like lead. There is a strange numbness around me, as if I have lost all sense of feeling, and I realise that perhaps I am in shock.

‘Fran, Dominic was supposed to meet you that night, wasn’t he?’ Wright says, flicking through a notepad that she pulls from her bag. ‘But he didn’t show up. Not until you had arrived back here with the police after leaving the site of Laurel’s disappearance.’