He nodded.

‘Her passport missing might be significant, don’t you think?’

He didn’t reply straight away, then he said, ‘Yes, but perhaps not in the obvious way.’

‘Meaning, John?’

‘That he wants us to think she’s gone away, perhaps?’

She nodded. ‘Good point. Your time as a detective wasn’t entirely wasted!’

‘It did open my eyes.’

‘And anyhow,’ she said, ‘I’ve never been able to trust a bloke who appears to resent his wife’s wealth.’

Alldridge concurred. ‘Let’s move away from the house.’

‘Food?’ she asked. ‘Try for breakfast again?’

‘Good plan.’

Half an hour later, with the residual reek of curry from the last crew out in this vehicle replaced by the much more appetizing aroma of egg and bacon sarnies, they were both feeling better. Parked on Church Road, in front of the cafe, they ate hungrily in silence. Alldridge finished ahead of Little, wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and suggested they inform Golf 99 – the duty Inspector at Brighton nick – of their concerns.

Little agreed.

Alldridge radioed the Control Room and was told, to his dismay, the day’s duty Golf 99 was Andy – ‘Panicking’ – Anakin. In his long experience, Anakin was the last person you’d want to involve in a crisis, but all the same, he had no option. The Inspector wasn’t always totally useless, just mostly.

Moments later, they heard his voice, a little too high-pitched and highly strung, through their radios. ‘Inspector Anakin.’

‘It’s PC Alldridge and PC Little, sir.’

‘What is it? I’m in the middle of a situation.’

From the hysteria in his voice, it sounded like he was the man, at this moment, single-handedly responsible for keeping Planet Earth on its axis and preventing it from spiralling off and sending all its inhabitants into oblivion.

Alldridge was long enough in the tooth to not take any crap from his superiors. ‘We have a situation, too, which we need to discuss with you, sir,’ he responded calmly and firmly, giving him a brief outline. From Anakin’s response, it didn’t sound like he’d absorbed much of what he’d been told.

‘I’m at the cell block doing a vital custody review, I can’t do anything at the moment – I’m dealing with a matter of national security.’ Then, turning more antsy, he said, ‘Surely you know normal process for a misper is not to do anything until a twenty-four-hour review, John, unless there are other factors?’

‘I do, sir,’ he replied, trying to be as respectful as possible to someone he considered a total moron. ‘But neither PC Little nor I think this is a matter for normal process. We need to step it up now proportionate to the risk.’

Anakin’s voice increased in pitch again – the human race was clearly in severe and imminent peril. ‘If that’s your assessment and you need to action now, call the duty DI – it’s Bryce Robinson today. I’ve got to go.’

The radio went dead.

The two PCs looked at each other, shaking their heads. ‘Know about the Peter Principle?’ Alldridge asked her with a grin.