‘I told you,’ Stacey says. ‘I just assumed he was lying low for a bit.’

‘Lying low from his wife?’

She drops her gaze to her lap. ‘I thought … I thought maybe the newspapers were right,’ she says, sounding ashamed. ‘Maybe he did take all that money. I didn’t … I didn’t want to talk to him.’

‘His mother, Frances, has reported him missing,’ DCI Hollander says. ‘She says he hasn’t phoned her in over a fortnight, which is apparently very unusual for him. She says he normally checks in to see how she is at least every other day.’

DS Mehdi finally sits down opposite her and leans forward, his hands dangling between his knees. His socks don’t match, she notices: one black, one grey. ‘Mrs Porter, can you tell me about your husband’s relationship with Millie Downton?’

She knew they’d end up here sooner or later, but the abrupt change of subject sets her nerves jangling.

‘They didn’t get on,’ she says.

‘Didn’t get on? According to several witnesses, they had a very public argument at the Hurlingham Club on—’ he breaks off to consult his notebook, ‘—on the afternoon of August twenty-first, just over three weeks ago. There was even an allegation that Mrs Porter broke your husband’s finger.’

‘It wasn’t broken,’ Stacey says.

‘But the fight did get physical?’

‘It was a misunderstanding,’ she says. ‘Millie thought she was defending me—’

‘You needed defending?’

‘Of course not. I told you, it was a misunderstanding.’

‘This wasn’t their first disagreement though, was it, Mrs Porter? Things got a bit heated between them at a charity gala Mrs Downton organised a few months ago. They were observed exchanging words.’

She must tread carefully now. Oh so very carefully.

‘I don’t know about that,’ she says. ‘Millie – Mrs Downton – she can be very … intense.’

‘Mrs Downton blamed your husband for pulling out of the sale of this house to her, isn’t that right?’

‘She was very upset, yes.’

‘Upset? According to one of your neighbours, Mrs Downton was seen hammering on the door and demanding to be let in on August twenty-eighth when – you say – you were staying at a hotel. The last reported sighting of your husband was when he came to the door that afternoon to let her in.’

‘What are you trying to imply?’

DS Mehdi sits back. ‘Your husband hasn’t been seen for two weeks, Mrs Porter. He hasn’t used his bank cards or his phone in that time—’

‘You’ve checked his phone and bank records?’

‘Usual procedure in this sort of case,’ DCI Hollander says smoothly. ‘You say you spoke to him ten days ago, but we don’t see your number in his itemised phone records. In fact, he hasn’t made any calls for two weeks.’

‘Maybe he wasn’t using his own phone when he called me.’

‘Why would that be, do you think?’

She shrugs.