‘Sorry, sir, that’s far enough.’

‘What?’

‘You can’t go inside.’

‘I live here.’

The officer scrutinised me for a moment.

‘Name?’

‘Joe Lynch.’

‘The owner of the property?’

‘Yes. Now could you let me in, please?’

He hesitated, then moved out of my way.

Chapter 56

56

I stepped inside, William still clutching my hand. Yesterday I had stood here in the silence, knowing that someone else had been there without my permission. I had that same feeling again – but now the house was filled with noise, muffled conversations, footsteps, strangers, smells that didn’t belong here. My home had become public property.

A white-suited officer came down the stairs, carrying the base unit of our PC wrapped in plastic.

‘’Scuse me,’ he said as he came past. Another officer followed after him, carrying a load of clothes in a clear plastic sack. I could see my work shirts, socks, William’s red school jumpers and grey trousers: the contents of our washing basket.

‘Who’s that man?’ William said in a loud stage whisper.

‘He’s a policeman too. Come on, let’s find Mummy.’

The kitchen was also a hive of activity, crowded with forensic people brushing and scouring, swabbing and taking samples. One of them was removing both the regular bin and the recycling bin, putting them into clear evidence bags.

Mel looked upset, a smear of mascara around her eyes. She was still dressed smartly for work – she’d not even taken her jacket off – and threw her arms around me like she’d not seen me for a year. She folded into me and held on tightly, head against my chest, like a lost child. There was still something about that embrace – the way our bodies fitted perfectly together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – that felt so right, despite what had happened between us. Painfully, achingly right.

‘Are you OK?’ I said quietly into her hair. ‘Are you all right?’

She nodded, but said nothing. When she couldn’t speak – when she didn’t trust her voice – she was really really upset.

‘What’s going on?’

She shook her head. Don’t know.

William held his hands up to her and we separated so she could pick him up, balancing him on her hip. His gaze switched back and forth between his mother’s tears and the strange men in our kitchen, as if he couldn’t decide which was the more worrying.

I turned to DCI Naylor.

‘What’s happening? Why are all these people here?’

‘We’re executing a search and seizure order, Mr Lynch.’

‘I can see that, but why? We were broken into yesterday and I reported it, but this seems like a bit of an overreaction.’

‘We’re not here because of a break-in’

‘So why are you here?’

‘Benjamin Delaney.’

‘Ben sent you here?’

‘In a manner of speaking, yes.’