‘To get me in trouble with the police. At work. At home.’

‘Why would he do that?’

‘Because of him and Mel. Listen – I’ve seen him. I’ve seen your husband.’

Her face was suddenly brighter, her eyes wider, and it was clear how hard Ben’s disappearing act had hit her. He was the head of the household, the millionaire entrepreneur alpha male, and I guess she had grown used to living in his shadow. Without him she was lost.

‘Really? Honestly? Is he OK?’

‘I didn’t talk to him, but yes, he seemed OK.’

She pursed her lips as if she was about to cry.

‘And he’s all right?’

‘He seemed all right.’

‘Thank God.’ She put a hand over her mouth and stifled a sob. ‘Thank God. I’ve been so worried.’

‘Can I come in, Beth? We could talk more inside.’

She stared at me for a moment longer, then pushed the heavy front door shut. I heard the door chain being taken off and she opened it again, still looking unsure whether I was safe to be around. The home phone was clutched in her other hand, and I realised with a jolt that she must have been ready to call the police.

The Delaneys’ lounge was huge, handsomely furnished in cream and white, and dominated by a sixty-inch plasma TV on the far wall. The large dining table was piled high with paperwork, files and A4 ring binders. Bay windows looked out onto the extensive back garden, workmen camped in the middle of the lawn with their excavators and tarpaulins, digging out the open-air pool and summer house that were Ben’s latest projects. One entire side of the room was dominated by framed pictures of family scenes – weddings, christenings, birthday parties – and groups of friends arm-in-arm. The shot from the school play was there too, the one on Beth’s Facebook timeline, a row of smiling teenagers dressed to play Shakespeare.

Beth gestured for me to sit down on the corner sofa at the far end of the room. She took a seat at the dining table, at least a dozen feet between us, nearer the door.

‘It’s a bit of a mess, I wasn’t expecting visitors.’

I gestured to the files and folders on the dining table.

‘What is all that?’

‘On Saturday I had this mad idea that Ben going off might be to do with his company, somehow. Maybe there was a problem and he hadn’t told me. So I was trying to find something, anything, that might be a clue to what’s going on. And then Sunday happened, and I just haven’t felt like clearing up since.’

‘I don’t think it’s about his company, Beth. I think it’s about his obsession with Mel. It’s about destroying a rival. It’s about winning.’

She winced visibly.

‘He always has to win.’