‘We can call him,’ Wynne said. ‘If he knows anything, we can go to see him.’

‘He’d come here,’ Matt said. ‘He’d probably want to see me and the kids anyway.’

‘Is he a friend? As well as an agent?’ Wynne said.

Matt nodded. ‘We go back a long way.’ He pointed to a photo of Norman’s christening. ‘That’s him.’

Wynne looked at it. ‘I see,’ she said. ‘Give us his details.’

‘In the meantime,’ Dudek said, ‘we need to make a list of people we should be talking to. Your colleagues, friends, family. We have to follow every possible avenue.’

‘I understand,’ Matt said. ‘Where do you want to start?’

‘How about your colleagues?’ Wynne said. ‘Could you give us their details?’

Wynne

1

DI Wynne and DS Dudek sat at a table in a conference room, a china cup of coffee on the table in front of each of them. There was a plate of biscuits; Dudek picked up a pink wafer and dipped it in his coffee.

‘That’s disgusting,’ Wynne said.

‘It’s not,’ Dudek said. ‘It’s the only way to eat biscuits. Keeps them moist.’

‘When you finish there’ll be bits of biscuit in the bottom of the cup.’

‘That’s a price I’m prepared to pay.’

Wynne sighed. ‘They’ll think we’re savages.’

The door to the conference room opened and a tall woman in her fifties walked in. She was wearing a red skirt and red wedge shoes. She sat opposite them.

‘I’m Valerie Cobb,’ she said ‘We’re very concerned to hear about Annabelle. Do you have any updates?’

‘Not at the moment,’ Wynne said. ‘Thank you for meeting us.’

‘Of course. Whatever we can do.’

‘We’d like to meet with Mr Westbrook’s colleagues,’ Dudek said.

‘What exactly would you be looking for from us?’

Dudek sipped his coffee. ‘We’re looking for any information that might lead us to a motive. A reason someone would do this.’

‘Someone who had something against Matt?’ she said. She smiled. ‘I think you might be barking up the wrong tree, to coin a phrase. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like Matt.’

‘A client?’ Wynne said.

‘Matt does mainly small-to-medium-sized commercial transactions,’ Valerie Cobb said. ‘He has a group of clients he’s been working with for years. I think they’re all happy with his counsel.’

‘Maybe he got something wrong,’ Dudek said. ‘And a client suffered a loss because of it.’

‘I would have heard,’ Cobb said. ‘At least, I think I would. I suppose it is possible.’ She smiled again. ‘But very unlikely.’

She steepled her fingers.