He indicated the dark bruises and scabbed-over scratches across my right knuckles, where I had stumbled in the woods.

‘Fine.’ I put my hands in my lap. My mouth was dry and my head was starting to ache. I wanted more than anything to be out of this room, out of here, away from this place.

‘Is there anything else, Joe? Anything else you want to tell us?’

Larssen was about to speak, but I cut him off.

‘I’ve told you everything.’

‘Like I said, Joe: the name of the game is proof of life. But it might not be for very much longer.’

I stared at him across the table, my jaw rigid.

‘You want proof? I’ll get it for you. I’ll get it myself.’

Chapter 40

40

I sat in my car, sweating and shaking, in a side street behind the police station. The plan had been to convince Naylor that I was being framed, and that had blown up in my face in spectacular fashion. Larssen had told me to go home, stay home and take it easy – but that was easier said than done when your life was disintegrating before your eyes.

I looked again at my last exchange with ‘David Bramley’ on Messenger.

Let’s meet up. Properly this time

And his response:

Lol

But you wouldn’t be laughing if I was standing in front of you right now, mate.

He might be shouting, or arguing, or maybe even telling me how much he loved my wife and how I was to blame for everything – but I was pretty damn certain he wouldn’t be laughing out loud.

Standing in front of him was exactly where I needed to be. Face-to-face. No social media, no gadgets, no emails, no direct messages, no screens, no internet. No bullshit. Just two blokes having a conversation. An actual, real, conversation.

He had been close on Sunday evening – close enough to my house to fool Naylor with the phone data. And again on Monday, at the park – watching me, stalking me, coming close then disappearing like a shadow. Because he knew the police would interrogate the phone logs, and he knew what they would show. There had been no one else there by the lake. No one but Ben.

I turned the ignition and sat for a moment, listening to the purr of the engine. Turned it off again. I couldn’t go home, not yet.

Proof of life.

The clues were there, I just had to find them.