‘I never thought to ask,’ he said. ‘I was just glad—’ He stopped and his lips turned up in a humourless smile. ‘I just never thought to ask.’

‘Was it unusual for Christina to stay in town over the weekend?’ asked Guleed.

‘I believe I’ve already been asked these questions,’ said Mr Chorley.

‘I’m sorry, sir,’ said Guleed. ‘Narrowing down the timeline is crucial and we find that people sometimes remember more once they get further away from an incident – every little detail helps.’

We also find that people tend to forget exactly what lies they told the last set of coppers they talked to. But either Mr Chorley had an exceptional memory or his earlier statement – that he thought his daughter had been staying with her friend Albertina Pryce – was true.

‘She generally stayed with Albertina when she spent the weekend in town,’ he said.

‘Did she ever stay with anyone else?’ asked Guleed.

‘Not that I know of,’ said Mr Chorley. ‘There were sleepovers, you know. Girls’ stuff. I did consider tracking her phone, but one doesn’t want to hover – do you? Since her mother died I found it quite difficult to find the right balance to be father and mother at the same time.’

Guleed nodded understandingly.

Christina’s mother had died three years previously in an RTC on the A355 just short of the junction with the M40, having lost control of her Mercedes C-Class and drifted into oncoming traffic. According to the accident report, she’d been four times over the legal alcohol limit at the time but since she’d hadn’t killed anyone else the coroner went easy on her and ruled it as death by misadventure.

‘Do you think I should have?’ said Mr Chorley. ‘Been more of a helicopter parent?’

Guleed gave a ‘what can you do’ sigh and looked sympathetic.

‘Did she ever have any trouble with her phones?’ I asked.

This got a frown.

‘What sort of trouble?’ he asked.

‘Did she seem to lose or claim to have broken her phone?’ I asked. ‘More often than you’d expect?’

‘You think she was selling them?’ asked Martin Chorley. ‘For drug money?’

Actually, I thought she might be destroying them through the power of her magic, but I felt that saying this might violate Seawoll’s rules about tact and diplomacy. Also, I was looking to see how Mr Chorley reacted – for some indication he might know why damaged phones were significant. But what he mostly was, was bewildered and sad.

There’s being thorough and there’s being cruel, so I zipped through the rest of my questions. Guleed followed my cue and didn’t ask any additional questions of her own.

‘Did you get anything useful?’ she asked as we stepped back into the rain.

‘Not really,’ I said.

‘Didn’t think so.’