Stevens opened the car door and guided Mel into the police station in Windermere, which looked like it might once have been a house, built of local slate and set back from the road. He showed her into a small, windowless interview room located at the back of the building, just big enough to fit a table and four plastic chairs. Mel wrinkled her nose as she sat, the smell of damp hanging in the air, a large patch of cream paint peeling off the wall in one corner.

‘I’ll just go and see if there’s any news, then I’ll be right back,’ Stevens said and left her, the door closing behind him with a heavy thunk, suggesting it was self-locking. Keep your cool, she counselled herself as her hands found each other and clasped themselves together. She looked round to see if there was a two-way mirror or CCTV, but there was nothing. Nobody was watching her and she allowed herself to relax a little and take some calming breaths.

It was a good few years since she’d been interviewed in a police station, but those memories had been refreshed and now sent adrenaline racing round her body. She had to keep sharp, even though it had been an incredibly long day and all she wanted to do was succumb to sleep; wake up and find it had all been a dream. This is really happening, she told herself. You have to concentrate.

She started by trying to work out what the police did and didn’t know. What else might they uncover that would show her in a bad light? She was just beginning to answer that question in her mind when the door opened and Stevens and Lockett walked in. Their faces were grim and Mel tensed, preparing herself for the worst.

The sergeant was first to speak. ‘You’re not under arrest, Mrs Roberts. This is an… exchange of information, not a formal interview. Okay?’

Mel nodded, relieved, because she’d been about to ask for her solicitor and that would have made her look guilty. She felt a little calmer, aware that if they’d had any evidence against her, she would have been cautioned. There was still the matter of the cocaine, but if she kept on denying any knowledge of it, she’d be fine. She steeled herself, told herself to be careful, just in case they tried to trick her.

‘I’ll just give you an update first,’ Stevens said. ‘We’ve had a few calls tonight and a couple of them have piqued our interest. The first one is a sighting of your family in a service station outside Dumfries on Friday.’ They both looked at her and she knew they were checking her body language, checking for little tells that this news would mean something to her.

She frowned. ‘Dumfries? Are they sure it was them? I don’t see how they could be at a service station in Dumfries if the car is still in the drive? And it was Aberdeen where Luke lived before, nowhere near Dumfries. Aberdeen is where his contacts are.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t… It doesn’t seem very likely, does it?’

‘Well, we’re following it up and we’ll let you know if anything definite comes of it.’ The inspector paused for a moment before his next question and Mel made herself sit still, although her hands fidgeted under the table. There was something else, she could sense it, an uncomfortable feeling creeping up the back of her neck.

‘Mrs Roberts, some other information has come to light that we need to talk to you about.’ Mel met the inspector’s even gaze. ‘A former colleague of yours rang the helpline. One who worked with you at a nursing home in Leeds. A Mrs Eva Harding?’

Mel gasped, her hands covering her mouth, unable to stop her body from responding. That bitch! That utter bitch!

‘Eva Harding?’ She looked at the police officers in turn, unable to keep the scorn from her voice. ‘You’re kidding me! You’re going to listen to her?’ Mel leant forwards. ‘That woman was nothing but trouble, always causing problems between the residents.’ She huffed in disgust. ‘Oh yes, she did it for fun. And you’re going to listen to what she has to say?’ Mel folded her arms across her chest and sat back in her chair, her mouth set in a tight line.

Silence settled around them for a moment, before Lockett spoke. ‘We’re just trying to check out what we’ve been told. Perhaps you could tell us why you were let go from your job at the nursing home? We’d like to hear your version of events.’

Both officers watched Mel’s every move. Truth or lie? They’re testing me. She swallowed as she prepared to speak, knew she had to tell the truth.

‘I was a manager at the nursing home for over ten years and there was never any trouble until I gave Eva Harding that job. She always had it in for me, trying to undermine me at every turn. In all honesty, I think it was a case of attack being the best form of defence for her, because she was not a good worker.’ Mel shook her head, lips pursed. ‘But it was hard to get staff, so I kept letting her off. Then there was a complaint about me, which got sent to the authorities. Who investigated.’ Mel wrapped a strand of hair round her finger and tugged, welcoming the discomfort as tears sprang to her eyes. ‘It was the worst time of my life and it was all down to that woman. A whistleblower. That’s what she called herself. A liar, I say, bending the truth to get herself out of trouble. I was about to sack her, but then her lies got me suspended and the new manager disregarded anything I ever did. Ten years of work unravelled in weeks and a year later the home went into administration.’

‘And what were her allegations?’

‘Oh, she claimed I was bullying patients.’ Mel threw up her hands. ‘They had dementia, for God’s sake. Weren’t even sure what planet they were on half the time. Of course I was firm with them. I had to be to keep them safe!’

Lockett gave her that look again. ‘Mrs Harding said you were fired for trying to get terminally ill residents to leave money to the nursing home in their will. She didn’t mention bullying people with dementia.’

Mel’s eyes widened before she caught hold of her shock and used it to her advantage. She sat back in her chair. ‘Where’s the proof? You can’t make allegations like that without proof.’ She tapped the table with a finger. ‘And I can tell you that there wasn’t any. Or there would have been a police investigation. And there wasn’t.’ Her chest was heaving as she worked herself up into a state of righteous indignation.

‘But you moved away?’

‘Well, I couldn’t stay in the area, could I? Not with accusations like that hanging over me. And I couldn’t get a reference. No, I decided I’d draw a line under the whole thing and start again. Do something a bit different. We always went to North Wales on family holidays, so it had a special place in my heart, and I’d had enough of living in a city, so I decided to go and live in Bangor.’

‘And that was six years ago.’

Mel nodded. ‘Yes. It’s in the past and I really don’t see what it’s got to do with my family going missing.’

The police officers looked at each other.

‘Right, Mrs Roberts, let’s move on to the matter of the powder we found in your make-up bag. It’s been tested and it’s definitely cocaine.’

‘It’s not mine.’ Mel enunciated every word and glared at them, eyes narrowed. ‘I told you. My husband has been dealing drugs. He must have put it there.’ She banged a fist on the table, her voice cracking. ‘Why aren’t you looking for my family instead of asking me these stupid questions? Why is nobody trying to find them?’

Stevens glared back. ‘We are trying to find them. Our colleagues are working hard, following up leads. We just need to take your fingerprints for elimination purposes. And we’d ask you to stay locally for the time being. You may be interviewed again under caution about the cocaine when we have investigated further, so you might want to organise legal representation.’ He nodded to his sergeant. ‘Would you do the honours, please?’

Mel sagged with relief in the knowledge that she’d done it. She’d got through the ordeal without anything negative happening and she was free to go. Her hands were shaking as the sergeant took her fingerprints, her emotions battered and bruised. But she was determined now to make the most of the opportunities that freedom gave her, determined to make sure that she came out of this with the upper hand.