‘No,’ she told him. ‘Everyone loves John. He’s very warm, and charming. He’s the dinner party guest everyone wants to be seated next to.’

‘So, you believe it’s more likely he left on his own?’

‘He wouldn’t leave without telling anyone,’ Fisher said. ‘He wouldn’t do that to Mia.’

‘He wouldn’t do that to me,’ Kate said.

Fisher said nothing. The officer’s eyes shone blue in the glow of his monitor.

‘How would you categorise your marriage?’ he asked Kate.

‘How would I categorise it?’

‘Do you consider it successful?’ he offered.

She opened her mouth to speak, but her throat was suddenly dry. When she thought of her marriage, she had once pictured a stunning home perched on a vast, cliff-side estate. Now she saw the same house, held up by hollow stumps, rotting and infested with termites, leaning closer to the cliff edge each day.

‘Happy,’ she said. ‘I’d categorise our marriage as happy.’

There’s that word again, she thought, reaching between her feet. She lifted the gym bag she’d brought onto the table and unzipped it.

The officer cocked an eyebrow. ‘What’s in the bag?’

‘I read online that you’d want to seize John’s electronic equipment and get a sample of his DNA. I brought his iPad, toothbrush, comb and a couple of old razor blades I found under the bathroom sink. I don’t really know how DNA works, but hopefully you can get something off them. I used gloves when I put them in the bag.’

He tilted his head and drew his lips together as if to say, aw, how sweet. ‘Someone will be in touch if those items become necessary. Just hang on to them for now.’

Kate zipped up the bag, feeling foolish. She put her hands under the table and dug her nails into her knees.

‘What happens now?’ Fisher asked. ‘Will you put out an amber alert?’

‘We only use amber alerts for missing children,’ he said. ‘This report will be entered into our system, and circulated and checked against ambulance and hospital reports.’

‘That’s it?’

‘From what you’ve told me, there’s nothing to suggest foul play. Generally speaking, an absent spouse who hasn’t committed a crime or an adult who simply hasn’t been in touch for a while is usually categorised as low risk.’

‘Low risk?’ Fisher snapped. ‘Low risk? He’s my son!’

‘Fisher, please,’ Kate said. ‘Panicking isn’t productive.’

‘Neither is sitting around doing nothing.’

‘Look,’ the officer said. ‘In most cases like this, the missing person turns up on their own within a day or two. In the meantime, reach out to his friends and family, check if anyone has heard from him, maybe ask around at any haunts he might have, like a gym or local pub. But if I were you, I’d start by figuring out why he quit his job.’