‘Have you always wanted to be a policeman?’

Another pause. ‘Runs in the family – Dad was one, and I’ve a cousin down in London who’s a detective too.’

I wondered what ran in my family. Lies. Delusion. An inability to stay in touch. I didn’t even know if I had any cousins. I’d no idea who my father was, and Jenna had cut herself off from her parents and brother so thoroughly I had never even met them.

‘Why did you move back?’ I said.

I was really just chatting to keep my mind from looping back over my fears, but he answered me seriously. ‘My dad’s been poorly. His lungs – well, he’s on his way out. Came back to help Mum with him.’

‘Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.’ Jenna had also died of lung cancer, and I had not been with her at the end, because her new husband hadn’t told me it was coming.

He shrugged his shoulders. Under other circumstances, I might have fancied him, or at least liked him – I did like him, in fact. It made the whole thing somehow worse.

‘It’s interesting being back,’ he said. ‘People say it must be quiet, after all the murders in London, the gang stuff these past years, but there’s plenty here too. Rich tourists snapping on their family breaks, the wife stabbing the husband with the knives in the Airbnb kitchen. Local teens overdosing. Not to mention all the family feuds over who owns which tree, farmers who drink too much and go mad with guns or farm tools. A lot of accidents that maybe aren’t accidents.’ An awkward pause. Maybe he shouldn’t be talking to me like this.

‘And your dad?’

‘Well, it’s like he’s just leaking away, really. Every day. Like . . . a bowl with a crack in it, and all I can do is watch.’

He stopped then, as if realising he’d said too much.

‘I bet you didn’t expect anything as complicated as this case,’ I risked.

He cleared his throat, as if signalling an end to this conversation. ‘Yes, well. I don’t mind complicated. It takes your mind off things.’ He moved back to the door. ‘We should resume, Rachel, if you don’t mind.’

‘All right,’ I said reluctantly. ‘Will I – can I go home tonight?’ I knew they had to charge me if they wanted to keep me past a certain time.

His face gave nothing away. ‘We have no plans to keep you in at the moment.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Oh.’ He turned back. ‘I’m concerned you may not be safe at your home, Rachel. With the press camped outside and the message on your fridge. I’m afraid we don’t have a budget to put you up, but I can recommend a number of vacant rental properties nearby.’

‘I’d have to pay for it myself?’