Mel needed the police officers to go away now and get on with the job of looking for her family. She was exhausted by all the questions and really needed some time to think.

‘Please find my children. Please,’ she said from behind her hands, which were hiding her face.

‘Come on,’ Inspector Stevens said to his sergeant as he stood. ‘We’ve got work to do.’ Mel glanced up and saw something in his eyes. Something that she didn’t like. Suspicion maybe? Her pulse quickened. The muscles in the inspector’s jaw tightened. ‘Don’t you worry, Mrs Roberts, we’ll find them.’

He headed for the door, Sergeant Lockett on his heels. Mel stayed in her seat and held her breath, hardly daring to believe they were going at last. She waited for the sound of the front door opening, but instead she heard the murmur of voices from the hallway. Then the sound of footsteps coming back into the kitchen. Dammit!

She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

‘Do you mind if we have one more look around?’ Stevens said. ‘See if there’s anything we didn’t spot earlier? Now that we’ve got more information, well, we need to be looking for different things.’

‘Yes, yes,’ Mel said with a sniff, not looking at them as her whole body tensed. ‘Help yourselves.’ She blew her nose on what was left of her tissue while the officers headed upstairs, wondering what they might be looking for. How much do I tell them? she asked herself as she listened to the clump of footsteps above her head, the sound of doors opening and closing. There was no doubt that they had questions she couldn’t fully answer. Oh, what a mess! Tears of frustration trickled down her face and she swiped them away with the back of her hand, forcing herself to sit up straight. This was no time for self-pity. No, this was a time to take control. She pulled up her sleeves, making sure her bruises were clearly visible. Now what else can I do to make sure they believe me?

Her nerves were in tatters; in fact, she could feel her body shaking and she still hadn’t come to a decision about what she should do next, her brain working so hard that she’d developed a splitting headache.

Finally, she heard the police officers coming back downstairs and she really hoped they’d go now. She looked up when they came into the kitchen, tears glistening on her cheeks, hoping she presented the right image; the desperate wife and mother.

‘It’s all very tidy up there,’ Stevens said. ‘Is that how you found it?’

‘Oh no,’ Mel shook her head. ‘No, it was a tip. How you could make such a mess in such a short time is beyond me, but those kids… well, I have to say they were semi-feral. Never trained to look after their possessions and keep their bedrooms tidy. To be honest, it’s been a bone of…’ She stopped and looked down at her hands, which were clasping a mess of damp tissues, cursing her mouth for running away with itself. You know better than that, she told herself, and nipped at her bottom lip to stop herself from saying any more.

‘So, Mrs Roberts, can I ask what your relationship with the children was like?’ Mel looked at the sergeant, annoyed with herself for getting it wrong and opening up a whole new line of questions. ‘Did you get on with them? It’s not easy with stepchildren, is it?’

Mel looked away, dabbed at her eyes and softened the tone of her voice. ‘Oh yes. Lovely kids, don’t get me wrong. Just…’ She sighed. ‘I think they were finding it a little hard to accept me. The death of their mother hit them really hard. It was so sudden, you see. And, to be honest, they’re still grieving, poor little mites.’

‘Must have been hard for them.’

Mel nodded and chanced a look at the sergeant, but her face was blank, giving nothing away. ‘I think Luke was a bit soft on them sometimes, because of… you know, the circumstances.’

‘And you were trying to correct that?’

Mel knew Lockett was leading her onto a path that she didn’t want to go down and her headache thudded at the base of her skull. She willed the muscles in her neck to relax and gave the sergeant a sad smile. ‘Trying. But not succeeding. They were a tight little unit. The kids and Luke. They played us off against each other to get their own way.’ She sighed again. ‘Luke couldn’t see it.’

The police officers were silent for a moment before Stevens spoke.

‘So, what did the place look like when you arrived? Can you describe it?’

Mel frowned and put a hand to the ache that now circled her head, pulsing behind her eyes. ‘Well, it looked like they got out of bed and had something to eat. Then went out.’ She visualised the mess in her mind, wishing her heartbeat would slow down. ‘There were plates and pans all over the place in here. And then their clothes were all over the bedroom floors. Books and DVDs and all sorts of bits and pieces in the lounge. Shoes just kicked off.’ She looked at them, eyes wide. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I automatically tidied up, while I was waiting.’ She pressed her lips together, chin quivering. ‘To make it nice for when they got back, you see?’

‘Did you hoover round?’ Lockett asked.

Mel frowned, not sure where this conversation was going. ‘No. No, I haven’t even found the hoover yet. But it didn’t need it. I think Luke must have done a bit. It was just messy. Not dirty.’

The police officers nodded in unison, before Lockett pulled a make-up bag from behind her back. Mel felt her mouth twitch in recognition, her mind exploding with questions that ratcheted up her headache by another notch.

‘We found this in the bathroom, Mrs Roberts. Is it yours?’

Mel stared at the bag, rubbing her temples, as if that might tease out the jumble of her thoughts. ‘It’s an old one. Spares.’ She frowned. ‘I’m not even sure why it’s here. I suppose Luke must have thought I’d forgotten it, but I’ve got a new one that I take when I go away to work.’

The sergeant unzipped the bag and pulled out a little bag of powder, held it up.

Mel’s eyes widened, a shiver of unease running down her spine.

‘Can you tell us what this is?’

She was silent for a long moment, the blood draining from her face. ‘I’ve no idea. But whatever it is, it’s not mine. I didn’t even pack that make-up bag.’

‘I’m afraid we’re going to have to take it away,’ Stevens said. ‘For analysis.’

The officers stared at her, silence filling the room as her headache squeezed and squeezed, until all her thoughts were gone, wrung out of her like water from a wet cloth.

‘It’s not mine,’ Mel repeated. She sounded panicky. ‘Luke must have put it in there.’

Stevens nodded. ‘Well, we’ll check for fingerprints, so if it is yours it would be better if you told us now.’ His stare was uncompromising, his suspicions obvious.

‘We were wondering if you could give us the name of the hotel you stayed at, Mrs Roberts,’ Lockett said. ‘You’ll appreciate that we have to check everyone’s movements. Nothing to worry about.’

Mel nipped her lip so hard that she tasted the sharp tang of blood. Christ! She was cornered, trapped in her bending of the truth, and the look on the police officer’s faces showed they knew it too.