‘We need to work together to stop this. To bring Ben to his senses.’

‘Makes it sound like it’s us versus him.’

‘Well Beth, I hate to be brutal about this. But that’s the way it is now.’

‘Does it have to be? Can’t it just be about bringing him back? Not even back to me – I mean, it doesn’t have to be. Bringing him back so that Alice knows he’s OK, nothing more. There doesn’t have to be anything else. Just that.’

‘That’s what I want, too.’

‘Ben will be so angry if he finds out.’

‘We have a better chance if we work together.’

She seemed to think for a moment, searching my face. Struggling towards a decision.

‘OK,’ she said finally in a small voice. ‘But just until he comes back.’

‘Deal,’ I said.

We shook hands quickly, awkwardly, her soft hand in mine for just a second before she withdrew it. She seemed to hesitate again, as if mulling something over.

‘If we’re a team, then you should probably know about this. It arrived today.’

She put a hand in the pocket of her overcoat and took out an envelope that had been torn open. It was addressed to Ben.

‘What is it?’ I said.

‘Have a look. I’ve been opening all his mail, hoping I might find something. Anything.’

At first I thought it was a credit card. There was a letter with something the size of a credit card attached to it, like you get from the bank. But when I opened the envelope it was a platinum membership card, from somewhere called the Mirage Casino.

Dear Mr Delaney,

Thank you for your email of 5 October. We are delighted to welcome you back to the exclusive membership of our Platinum Members’ Lounge at the Mirage . . .

‘The Mirage was his favourite casino in Sunderland,’ she said as I read. ‘He used to go there a few years ago to see his old friends from home.’

‘And he emailed them to renew his membership last week.’ The day before the car park.

The letter listed some of the exclusive benefits of platinum membership. Something about the name of the place rang a bell but I couldn’t remember why.

Beth added: ‘I don’t really know why I brought it with me. It just seemed really weird – I couldn’t understand why he would have renewed his membership there with everything else that’s going on. Feels like indulging in a bit of home-town nostalgia should be bottom of his priority list at the moment.’