‘Did she just go home early?’ She frowned. ‘I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d got the hump – Oliver was rather, let’s say, familiar, with some of the female guests.’

‘You, you mean.’

‘We seemed to hit it off, yes.’ A smile played at the edges of her mouth. She really could be incorrigible at times.

‘He was smooth even when he was only eighteen. He’s downright slippery now it seems.’

‘I didn’t get that kind of creepy, smarmy vibe though, Lou. And let’s face it, my radar for those types is pretty good.’

‘Yes, I know. But something isn’t right about all this.’

‘Like?’

‘The timing for one. Why after all these years has he decided to make an effort to contact me – and just a year after getting married? And why make that first contact at my surprise birthday party of all places?’

‘Opportunity? I gave him that by accepting his invite to join the Exeter College group, didn’t I. So, he took it. I don’t see anything malign in that.’

‘No, I suppose. I’m obviously reading too much into it.’ She almost conceded, then remembered what he’d said. ‘But he said something that set my nerves on edge; the way he spoke it had an air of menace to it. A threat even.’

‘Oh, Lou, I’m sure you must have read him wrong.’ Her voice rose in pitch. ‘What did he say exactly?’

Louisa tried to ignore the slightly condescending tone. Tiff obviously thought she was over-reacting. ‘He was asking for my help – wanting me to go with him to the police to report Melissa missing, and when I said no, he said: You can help me, like I once helped you. And it was the way he said it. Like I owed him. And he had the gall to say he’d left for me. When I challenged him, he made out that I’d been lying to myself about the reasons he left me. He didn’t make any sense. But I did go to the police with him, and now I feel he manipulated me into it.’

Tiff looked thoughtful for a moment and Louisa was hoping she’d have to agree with her that Oliver’s behaviour had been odd.

‘What did the police say?’ she finally said. Louisa’s shoulders slumped. Tiff had chosen to only pick up on the last part.

‘Oliver said they asked loads of questions, about the party, who Melissa’d been with, about her friends and family, places she might go to – she’s apparently gone AWOL a few times in the past.’

‘They aren’t treating her as a vulnerable person, then, otherwise we would’ve heard more. Did they ask you about the party?’

‘Yes! And I felt such a fool. Kept having to say I couldn’t remember. I really wish I hadn’t drunk so much.’