‘OK.’ He paused, as if he was writing something. ‘I was about to call you actually.’

‘About?’

‘Good news and bad news.’

‘Well that’s better than just plain bad news, I suppose. What’s the good news?’

‘It isn’t really good news, to be honest.’

‘Great.’ A feeling of dread was rising up from my stomach.

‘They found your mobile phone. The one you lost on Thursday night.’

‘And the bad news?’

‘They found it at Fryent Country Park.’

‘Where? How?’

‘It was in a patch of woodland, half hidden in a pile of leaves. In the area they’ve been searching.’

‘But . . . that doesn’t make sense.’

‘The police are tearing the woods up now, looking for a body. Using ground-penetrating radar, scent dogs, the full house of forensic kit. They also have divers in the lake, looking for weapons and anything else that might have ended up in there. They’re treating it as their secondary crime scene.’

I sat down slowly at the kitchen table.

‘Say that again.’

He repeated it, word for word. It felt like I was floating above myself, disembodied; as if this conversation was happening to someone else and I was just a spectator.

‘How can they be sure it’s my phone?’

‘The IMEI number is registered to you. Plus your fingerprints, numbers, photos and various other bits and pieces. It’s your phone, Joe. There’s no doubt about that.’

My mind was racing. A million possibilities, but only one that made sense.

‘Somebody planted it there.’

‘Somebody?’

‘Ben. Ben planted it there, it’s part of his plan to set me up. Convince the police that he’s been done in.’

‘Right,’ Larssen said, stretching the syllable to breaking point.

‘He convinces the police, they finish the job of tearing my family to pieces.’

Larssen sighed audibly.

‘Joe, you need to keep your mind focused on this. Just this, nothing else.’ He couldn’t keep the exasperation out of his voice. ‘Forget about other theories, other ideas. That’s not your job. And the fact that you’re persisting with it is making my job harder.’

‘I’m persisting with it because I’m fighting for my family.’

‘Your mobile phone has just been linked to a potential crime scene, and you don’t seem to have an explanation. I expect DCI Naylor is feeling pretty pleased with himself at this moment.’

‘All I can tell you for certain is that phone didn’t end up there because of anything I did. That’s the truth.’

‘Of course,’ he said, in a tone that sounded like it was reserved for guilty clients. ‘It’s a rather unfortunate truth though, isn’t it?’

When Larssen hung up I called Beth at home, wondering whether she would remember anything of our conversation last night. Alice picked up, and I was momentarily thrown by the sound of her voice.

‘Is your mum there?’ I asked.

‘She’s asleep.’