Then when they called the police, she’d sped off in that old Ford. And Grandpa just stood on the porch, watching her go. Then that sound. Metal bending, the crackle of branches breaking, and the boom and splash of the car striking the water. That corner at the cliff is four hundred metres along the road yet we all heard it so clear. I still hear it now when I think about her.

‘Look,’ Rata begins. ‘This isn’t a formal interview or anything like that, we’re not recording you. We just want you to help us understand one or two things.’

‘What is this place?’

‘It was the main police station in Auckland before the move, but the force still owns it, so we make use of it from time to time. For interviews and meetings.’

Interrogations? I wonder. National security? Cybercrime?

‘Okay. Is there any more news on our case?’

‘We’re looking at something different. It’s broader than that one case.’

The room drops ten degrees. Broader. What does that mean? Peephole? Rata sits down, private school straight spine, with a muscled neck keeping that large head of his up. ‘Perhaps you can begin by explaining to us why you were at that house?’ he says.

‘Well, I booked it on WeStay.’

A brow lifts. ‘Why did you book that place in particular?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Why did you book it? You didn’t stay there tonight. So what is it? Trouble at home?’

All the lies flicker through my mind, I needed a night away from Cain, sometimes I stay near the ambulance station when I’m on call, I stayed at that house before and left something valuable behind. None seem plausible. The truth is I don’t really know myself why I went, I guess I wanted to see if the cameras were still there. I twist the wedding ring on my finger, I don’t realise I’m doing it until I follow Rata’s dark eyes to my own hands. I stop.

‘I haven’t broken the law,’ I say. ‘So I want to go home.’

‘Well, that depends.’

‘On?’

‘Given what you know about the pending case concerning Daniel Moore and the fact you were at a place of interest, this could be seen as interfering in a criminal investigation.’

‘How was I to know that house was of interest?’

His smile says cut the crap.

‘I’m not answering any more questions,’ I say. I eye the door.

He levels his gaze right on me, letting the tension build.

‘I’m going to ask you again, why were you at that house this morning, Lina?’

I just shake my head.

‘Why are you and your husband visiting a place of interest in a criminal investigation?’