She nodded. ‘The fact is I don’t see much of him these days. I suppose we have what you would describe as a strained relationship. He’s too much like his father – bone idle and irresponsible. And he resents it when I try to discourage his bad behaviour. We don’t always see eye to eye.’

‘I can tell you that he’s not with his girlfriend at the moment and he’s not at home. So, where do you think he might be?’

‘I have no idea. He has a habit of disappearing for days at a time. He could be anywhere.’

‘We’re aware that he has a criminal record, Miss Weldon,’ James said. ‘But would you say he’s a violent person?’

‘He can be when he’s had too much to drink or is off his head on pills. He gets it all from his lowlife father who you probably know is in jail. I just don’t want Neil to wind up there too, and I fear he will if he doesn’t sort himself out.’

‘Has he mellowed at all since he started a relationship with Charlotte?’

She shook her head and her eyes glistened with repressed anger.

‘That’s half the problem. She’s as bad as he is. A right stroppy mare at times. They wind each other up so much I’m surprised they’ve stayed together this long. If you want to know where Neil is you should ask her.’

James and Abbott exchanged a look and Miss Weldon picked up on the unspoken message that passed between them.

‘You might as well tell me what sort of trouble he’s in,’ she said. ‘Is it dealing drugs, stealing things or has he hit someone again? You’re not the first police officers to have come here asking about him. I’m quite used to it by now.’

The blood quickly retreated from the woman’s face as James told her what they had found at Oaktree Farm.

‘We know from speaking to one of his neighbours that Neil returned to his flat on Christmas Day,’ he said. ‘We also know that he’d had a minor collision in his car, which is still parked over there. There’s damage to the front offside wing and light, but the neighbour said he didn’t appear injured himself. The same neighbour saw him walk away from the block about an hour after he arrived – he was carrying a rucksack – and it doesn’t appear that he’s been back there since.’

There was a faraway look in the woman’s eyes now, as though she was unable to comprehend what she had just heard.

‘I need to be clear with you that at this stage what happened at the farm remains a mystery,’ James continued. ‘But your son’s disappearance inevitably implies guilt, and we need to find out if he was involved in any way.’