There was something else Adrian noticed as she stepped out of the car. Despite the weather being decidedly grey today, she was wearing sunglasses. He knew he should just walk away now. The anger that had yet to abate stoked inside of him again. He really didn’t want to prove Imogen right about his inability to keep his emotions under control.

They had already been warned about Reece Corrigan. The fact that they had already questioned him and were likely to do so again had obviously not deterred him from hurting his wife. Adrian remembered the police visiting his own childhood home – a verbal warning and then nothing. He thought things had moved on since then. Obviously not.

Adrian clenched and unclenched his fist as Angela approached. He noticed Reece’s jaw straining under the pressure as he tried to mask his annoyance at his wife. She was carrying shopping bags from some of the pricier shops in town. Retail therapy. Maybe Imogen was right and this was just a price Angela was willing to pay – the smile on her face was a convincing mask. It’s not impossible that the negative aspect was just a trade-off for this life of privilege. His mother put up with a lot more for a hell of a lot less.

‘Mrs Corrigan,’ Adrian said as she went to pass them.

‘Can I just put these bags inside?’ she said, clearly hoping that she would have been able to avoid this confrontation altogether.

‘Of course,’ Adrian said, moving forwards a little, edging Imogen out of the way, rigid with anger at Reece.

Who the hell did he think he was? Adrian’s eyes were fixed on Reece’s now. He could feel Imogen tap him on the back of the arm, trying to remind him where he was, who he was. It was too late for that.

It wasn’t as though Adrian had never been called out on a domestic abuse call before, of course he had. There was something about Reece Corrigan, though – something so entitled. He had no intention of ever stopping. Adrian wondered if he even bothered pretending to be sorry afterwards.

Angela reappeared at the door. Smiling through gritted teeth.

‘Detectives.’

‘Would you take those glasses off for us, Mrs Corrigan,’ Adrian said, never once breaking eye contact with Reece.

She slowly pulled the glasses off and Adrian looked over.

‘It’s not what you think. I was in the gym and—’ Angela said unconvincingly.

‘Save it, love,’ Reece said, annoyed that she was trying to cover it up.

He would have been annoyed no matter what she had done. He didn’t need a reason.

‘If you feel as though you are in danger, we can take you with us now,’ Imogen said.

‘Danger? Don’t be silly! This was an accident,’ she said, trying to laugh it off.