‘Thank you, it will.’ Richard was gritting his teeth as he ended the call swiftly before he said anything he might regret. He was certainly seeing Serena in a different light. Having allowed this woman to seduce him and having spent a fortune on her, it appeared she didn’t want to help him when he needed it.

What a fool he’d been to risk everything for a woman like Serena. She was selfish and shallow. If it hadn’t been for her they would have the money to pay for Danny’s freedom. Yet Richard realised it was he who’d given her everything and loathed what he’d become – he might well lose his wife and son because of his untimely gullible actions. It finally dawned on him, with considerable regret how much he’d taken his family for granted – and he realised that he loved them above anything else.

The next call he made was to DI Radford. Richard didn’t dislike the man and had they met in any other circumstance they would probably have got on well. It was just the awkward questions Radford asked which made Richard squirm when he should have been grateful for the detective’s diligence.

All he could do was to throw himself on the mercy of the man, disclose what he’d really been doing when he was supposed to be in London and beg him to keep it quiet.

‘Radford,’ was the brief, rather terse answer, which threw Richard’s hastily composed speech before he’d even begun. He was unused to being lost for words. In his professional life, he used words to tie people in knots – they were a tool with which he was skilled, but now he was on the other side of the conversation.

‘Richard Stone here. I, er… I’m sorry to have misled you, but as you seem to have discovered, I don’t work in London. I’ve been seeing someone, a lady, and the pro bono work was just a cover.’ Richard waited for some sarcastic or angry retort but neither came.

Radford remained calm, even-toned. ‘I suspected that might be the case. Perhaps you can supply me with this lady’s number so we can interview her.’

‘Is that necessary? It’s not as if I was with her when Danny was taken – you’ve confirmed my alibi for then.’

‘Yes, that’s true but as you know, we’re looking at all of your contacts, business and personal, to eliminate them from the investigation.’

Richard would argue no more. ‘Yes, of course.’ He recited the number and then asked, ‘Could you possibly keep this from Martha? It won’t do any good to tell her and I’m not going to be seeing this lady again, so please – I’ll be very grateful.’