“So you don’t have to admit you failed me?” I ask. His face is impassive. He is probably worrying I will sue them. I talk to the kinder face of Vicky instead. “I had security on my accounts, my main ones anyway. A code to enter in the case of a hostage situation. It’s one of the premium services my bank offers to high-value clients. Turns out it was a waste of the fifty-grand fee I pay every year though.” I am chagrined about it.

“There was no way to trace you. He had set up the system to never let anyone pinpoint your location.” DCI Rosenmeyer is matter of fact.

“But you knew I had triggered it and still… what? You arrested my boyfriend thinking he’d done something?”

“There was evidence of foul play on his part.”

“That Chris had concocted. For Christ’s sake.” I let my voice rise as a very real anger courses through me. “I could have been killed. And all you would have done is blamed an innocent man for it.”

Now, I’ll be honest. It had actually helped me that the police could never pinpoint the hostage warning. It gave me the time to plan this all properly instead of acting in blind panic. I’ve always been a little lucky and never so much as now.

“Leah—Ms. Patterson—we are incredibly sorry for the failings that you believe occurred and we will investigate more fully, but you will be aware as well as we are that if Chris hid the location of the laptop into which you entered that code, it would be near impossible to trace.”

“Near impossible is not impossible,” I reply curtly.

“Look,” DCI Rosenmeyer says, “I don’t blame you for being mad, but let’s stay on track. Please? We still need to hear the rest of it.”

“OK.” I sigh. “So, my bank requires you to input a keyword before the retinal and fingerprint scans. I told Chris the code was Tarquin. It was actually Oberon, so I knew it would flag to the police when I entered it. The banking system says it’s accepted the keyword but then comes up with an error message that it can’t read the retinal scan and tells you to contact them. To someone trying to coerce the money from you it looks like the error is with the bank. In theory, it is genius. But when I couldn’t send the money, he went ballistic. Told me that he would make sure I lost everything I cared about. While I waited for rescue, he began to tell me that he would fake my death and get the money from my estate that way. And that he would keep me hostage for the rest of my life, tied up with no hope of escape.”

I look at Vicky and then at DCI Rosenmeyer. “I want to talk to you alone,” I say to her. He clears his throat and gets up, almost running to the door. I don’t think he wants to hear the next part.