‘Because people would have believed her. She is a very unpleasant and unstable woman and I was happy to be rid of her.’

Wynne shook her head. ‘You’re lying to me.’

‘I hope you can prove it.’

The problem was, he was right. She was skating on thin ice. She had no right to be here – his wife had dropped the charges against him and they had found no photos at the time. Wynne was sure he had been taking them – and that he continued to do so – but she had no proof. Best was too clever to leave any evidence in the house.

There wasn’t much she could do.

Best rubbed his shin. ‘This is harassment, and if it continues I will report you to the Police Complaints Commission.’

‘No you won’t,’ Wynne said.

‘I will, and you’ll be in all kinds of—’

Wynne prodded a finger in his chest.

‘Go to the PCC,’ she said. ‘Go and tell them what I did, and when you do, I’ll explain why. There’ll be all kinds of attention on you – and I think that’s the last thing you want, Best.’

‘Look,’ he said. ‘I understand what you’re thinking, and I have every sympathy with you. You think there is a coincidence here – because you believe my wife’s accusations you think I may have something to do with the disappearance of this young girl. Then you discover I brought her brother home, and I taught her mother. But there is no coincidence, because those accusations are untrue. I have no …’ he paused, searching for the right word, ‘… unnatural interest in young girls, and I had nothing to do with whatever happened to Maggie Cooper. Once you discount my wife’s accusations then you’ll see all that happened is I helped out a young man – remember, I was a teacher, so I understand teenagers – who is the son of someone I taught … And there are many sons and daughters of people I taught in this town.’

She looked at him, keeping her face expressionless. What he said was perfectly plausible, but only if you accepted that his wife’s accusations were false. And Wynne didn’t.

‘Moreover,’ Best said. ‘If you return here, I will not let you in unless you have the correct legal status, by which I mean a warrant. And then, even if you have one, when you fail to find anything, I will lodge my complaint.’ He looked at her. ‘I imagine you are quite proud to have achieved your rank, Detective Inspector. No doubt you are considered promising and talented. What you lack is the wisdom to know when you are mistaken – as you are now.’

Wynne put her hands behind her back. She dug her fingernails into her palms. She wanted to grab him by the throat and squeeze the truth out of him. Squeeze the life out of him.