‘No, you misunderstand, she wasn’t reckless, and I didn’t mean that.’

Jones turned her attention to Ben.

‘Do you have home insurance, Daisy?’ Burns asked bluntly.

‘Yes,’ I said too quickly through a dry mouth.

‘And you, Mr Cartwright. Where were you on the evening?’ Jones looked down at her notes. ‘From our initial discussion three days ago, you were away in London. But on that evening, you had returned to the hotel room. Alone.’

Ben looked down at me. ‘Erm, yes. I was tired after a day of meetings, so I went to bed.’

‘But you were back in town pretty sharpish when you heard the news,’ Jones said without question.

‘Of course. I had my phone on silent, but I woke in the night and saw the missed calls from Daisy. I came as soon as I could.’

‘So what time would you say you arrived back in town, Mr Cartwright?’ Jones continued.

‘I can’t really remember now. It was late, 3 or 4 a.m. maybe?’

‘So what time did you leave London?’ Jones’ persistent tone caught my attention. I looked up at Ben with concern.

‘I got in a cab sometime after midnight, 1 a.m.? I don’t really remember.’

‘So if you were asleep when you missed her call, you must have been in bed by what? Ten? Ten-thirty? That’s rather an early time for a musician to go to bed on a Saturday night, wouldn’t you say?’ I looked at Ben, hearing the enormity of her accusations. I could see what was happening, but it was unfolding like a well-rehearsed drama, as though it was scripted.

‘Look, do you mind? My wife has just lost her best friend…’

Jones closed her notepad. ‘We understand that, Mr Cartwright, but there are some issues we need to iron out here. We can ask these questions at the station if you would prefer.’ Jones raised her eyes and cocked her head in the direction of me. Ben looked at me.

‘Yes. Yes, let’s do that,’ he said and stood up. Both Jones and Burns stood as well.

‘What? What’s happening?’ I asked through my feigned ignorance. If this was what was happening then there was nothing I could do but let it. Ben took both of my hands in his.

‘Let me just go and sort these queries out at the station, babe, and I’ll be back home within the hour.’

‘Actually, it will probably be a lot longer than that, Mr Cartwright. We need to go back to the station in town,’ Burns said. ‘That’s a good hour and a half’s drive there and back plus the interview time.’

‘Fine, whatever,’ Ben said over his shoulder. He kissed me. ‘I’ll see you in a while.’

I suddenly found strength and with Ben’s help I left the sofa. I noticed Annie hovering in the doorway in my peripheral vision. I followed Ben and the constables to the door. Jones handed me a piece of paper.

‘Here’s the full post-mortem report Mrs Cartwright. You can probably call your doctor if you need assistance with any of the medical terminology.’ I absentmindedly took the paper from her and glanced down at today’s date that was glaring at me. 16^th January 2008.