Especially the police.

Kate felt a flicker of annoyance, even though this call had got her out of the house and away from Dan. If Frederick Flowers was so worried on Patrick Kelly’s behalf, why the hell didn’t he come out here and investigate the matter himself? Normally a person had to be missing for over twenty-four hours before the police were interested, especially when it was a grown woman. It was different with children, but this Mandy Kelly was twenty-two, for Christ’s sake. She pulled into the sweeping gravelled drive and stopped in front of the large Georgian house, set in three acres of parkland. It was lit up like Battersea Power Station. Seems that massage parlours and repossessions paid well and earned friends in high places as well. Kelly’s electric bill came to more than her mortgage by the looks of things.

The entire house was floodlit and even the trees had lights in them. You’d have no chance of creeping up to Patrick Kelly’s door without being seen. Nursing her resentment she walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

One of the first things Kate noticed was that the house was decorated in superb taste. Not what she expected at all. She looked around, impressed despite herself. Obviously Kelly’s money ran to interior designers. She followed Kelly into the drawing room and took a seat on the chesterfield. The room was beautiful, with the original ceiling roses and cornices; the walls were lined with books, everything from leather-bound volumes to garish paper-backs. It was predominantly silver grey with dusky pink carpets and curtains. It was a room designed by a woman, Kate was certain. It had a woman’s feel for colour and space. Men tended to put things in the first place available and just leave them there. Women thought a room out, knew how a room would look at its best. Women, Kate had observed, took time with details. Small details that could make a room like this.

Despite its immense size, it was a homely room and obviously well lived in. A sleek black cat lay asleep before the fire. Her eyes rested on Kevin Cosgrove, who sat whitefaced and subdued. Kate guessed, rightly, that he was the boyfriend, and that he had been having a hard time from Kelly.

She took the Scotch Kelly offered and sipped it gratefully. This was the last thing she had wanted tonight. Even with Dan, the long lost father’s return, this was still not what she needed. The Scotch was good and she savoured it for a second before she looked at Kelly directly.

‘What makes you think that your daughter’s gone missing? She could be at a friend’s, anything.’

Patrick stared at Kate as if seeing her for the first time.

‘What did you say your name was?’

‘Detective Inspector Burrows.’