The identification process was as hideous as Allison had expected and she had no difficulty in portraying a devastated widow. Peter’s poor face, despite their best efforts, was a mess. Her cringe at the sight was obviously, and conveniently, seen as sorrow. He really had been such a handsome man.

‘Yes, that’s my husband, Peter.’ Allison swayed slightly and hitched a few sobs.

The liaison officer moved in with a comforting arm. ‘Would you like a few moments alone to say goodbye?’

Allison leaned into the arm, feeling the officer steady herself to bear the extra weight. ‘Sorry,’ she said, straightening. ‘Yes, please, I’d like that very much.’

Her moment of weakness had obviously been enough to convince the liaison officer, who pulled over a chair and hovered solicitously as Allison lowered herself onto it and gripped the sides of the seat as if she was going to keel over and fall off.

‘I’ll wait outside. Take as long as you want.’

Allison waited till she heard the door shutting behind the officer before getting to her feet and approaching Peter’s body again. Her nose crinkled at the smell. Not unpleasant but not the Hugo Boss cologne she was used to recognising. ‘Poor Peter.’ She leaned down and pressed her lips to the small triangle of skin on his forehead not criss-crossed with evidence of his catastrophic end. The icy chill of the touch made her shiver and pull away.

He wouldn’t have felt a thing. She took consolation from that. He’d been good to her; she wouldn’t have wanted him to suffer. Despite his end, he’d died with the bubble of his fantasy intact. ‘I did that much for you, Peter.’

A click behind her alerted her to the return of the liaison officer. Allison had enough time to throw herself across Peter’s body, shaking her shoulders in what she hoped was a good impression of someone in the deepest throes of sorrow. Luckily, this close, the smell emanating from his body was acrid enough to make her eyes water. When she stood, a convenient tear was displaced to run elegantly down her cheek.

‘If you need to stay longer…?’

‘No.’ Allison pressed her trembling lips together. Oscar-worthy material. She leaned down once more and pressed a final kiss to the same spot she’d chosen earlier. ‘Goodbye, my darling, I will miss you forever.’ With her head down, one hand grasping the other, she walked shakily to the door, along the corridors and up the short stairway to the reception area.

She turned to the liaison officer. ‘Thank you, you’ve been very kind.’

‘There will be an inquest, of course. I’m afraid there’s rather a backlog so it could be a few months. Not usually more than six, though.’