‘Tell us.’

Beth’s next words froze me in my chair.

‘One of his guns was gone.’

14

‘He has guns?’ I said, trying to keep my voice level.

Beth nodded. Took another sip of herbal tea.

‘Shotguns, mostly.’

‘What does he shoot?’

‘Wood pigeon and ducks,’ Beth said. ‘Clays as well. He’s a pretty good shot. Has quite a collection of sporting guns.’ She smiled a small smile. ‘I think he fancies himself shooting grouse on the Glorious Twelfth. He’s always wanted to be a member of the landed gentry, wear Barbour coats and Hunter wellies. He bought me a gun to encourage me to shoot, even though I’ve been a vegetarian since before we got married. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.’

It felt like the temperature had just dropped a few degrees in our conservatory. Ben was out there somewhere, furious, with a shotgun for company. I imagined him turning up on our doorstep. Staring at him down the barrel.

‘Wait here a minute,’ I said, standing up. I checked the conservatory door, kitchen door and front door were all locked before picking William up from the lounge floor and carrying him back into the kitchen on my hip.

‘Do you want a biscuit, Wills?’

He nodded solemnly and I handed him two ginger nuts from the biscuit jar. I sat him down at the kitchen table, where I could keep an eye on him from the conservatory, and rejoined Mel and Beth.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, punctuated by the sounds of William crunching loudly on his first ginger nut.

‘Maybe we should call the police,’ I said quietly.

‘Already done that,’ Beth said. ‘Called them yesterday afternoon when Ben still hadn’t come home, or been at work, or answered any of my calls or been at any of the places I thought he might be.’

Mel leaned forward.

‘What did the police say, Bee?’

‘They took some details and told me to call back in twenty-four hours if he still hadn’t turned up.’

‘Have you called them back?’

She nodded, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

‘Couple of hours ago. They told me I could go in and give a statement if I wanted to, so I went into Kilburn Police Station. I’ve just come from there. It’s all so surreal, Mel: policemen and procedures, filling in forms and giving statements. Just hope Ben isn’t too cross when he finds out.’

‘What did the police say?’

‘Nothing much, really. It was a young chap, a constable. He said most people like Ben turn up sooner rather than later, but that he’d pass my information up the chain tomorrow for one of the detectives to look at.’

‘Did you tell them about Alex Kolnik?’

She looked a little startled.

‘How do you know about that?’

‘It was in the Standard. I was googling him yesterday and found it online.’

‘I mentioned Alex, yes.’

Alex, I thought. Not Kolnik, or him, or that man. She referred to him as Alex. It hadn’t occurred to me that they might be on first-name terms. But it was one to think about later.