She told him she’d text him to tell him what time she would be arriving in Worthing. When she hung up, her heart felt lighter. She’d spent most of this week worrying about him. At least now, she knew he was okay. And hopefully tomorrow she would get to the bottom of why he’d lied to her.

It was getting dark by the time she arrived back at the house. She checked the driveway before going inside, relieved when she saw Felicity’s car was no longer there. With Jake and Felicity out of the way, she could finally sit down and have a proper chat with Adam. She hated when they argued and she was sure, now they’d both had some time to cool down, they would be able to work things out.

‘Hello?’ she opened the front door and stepped inside.

No answer from Adam.

Taking off her trainers and putting them on the rack the way Adam liked, she went into the kitchen. There was no sign of him in here, either. She checked the time. Almost eight o’clock. She felt the first trickle of fear then. Images of Nick and Tara blasted through her brain and she couldn’t get rid of them.

She went around the house, searching each room, terrified of what she might find. But there was no Adam anywhere. She thought back to earlier, trying to remember if he’d said anything about going up to London this evening. No. He didn’t have any meetings in London tomorrow until the afternoon. They’d spoken about it and had planned to go for a walk together in the morning before he got the train to London. So where the hell was he?

She tried calling him but his phone was either switched off or he was somewhere without a signal, because her calls went straight to voicemail. By nine thirty, there was still no sign of him and Clodagh was growing increasingly frantic. Not knowing what else to do, she found the business card she’d been given by DI Lewis and called the mobile number written on that.

‘It’s Clodagh Kinsella,’ she said, when the detective answered. ‘I’m sorry to call so late, but I’m worried about Adam. I don’t know where he is.’

‘Okay,’ Rachel said. ‘I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about, but I can understand it must be hard not to after everything that’s happened. When was the last time you saw him?’

‘Around lunchtime today,’ Clodagh said. ‘We had a row.’

‘Ah, I see.’

‘No, you don’t see. I was the one who walked off, not Adam. I was angry so I went for a walk to get away from him. Well, not just him. Jake too. But when I came back earlier this evening, Adam wasn’t here.’

‘What about Jake?’