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Robyn used going to the café down the road to buy a sandwich as an excuse to ring Ross. He picked up immediately.

‘I need to share something with you. I really wanted to speak to you face-to-face about it.’

‘Where are you?’

‘Outside the station. About to go to the café.’

‘The one that sells the best homemade chocolate cake in Stafford?’ he asked.

‘That’s the one. Want me to place an order for you?’

‘I really shouldn’t. Jeanette will go bonkers if she finds out I’ve been scoffing slices of cake. You know how paranoid she is about me having another heart attack.’ He paused. Robyn could hear the smile in his voice. ‘I’m at the office so I’ll be there in ten minutes.’

The phone went dead. The offices of R&J Associates were at the other end of Stafford. It wouldn’t take him long to reach her but she’d have time to order cake and coffee for him.

Robyn had placed the tray on the table only seconds before Ross pulled into the space directly in front of the large café window. She was pleased to see the familiar craggy face, unkempt hair and shaggy eyebrows. He was reliable Ross, the ex-policeman with a heart of gold. They ought to bottle his goodness and sell it. There weren’t many like him.

Ross waved at her and pointed to the car. Inside, Duke was standing on the passenger seat, staring out at the café with a quizzical look on his face. Ross rolled down the window slightly for the dog, locked the car door and entered the café. Robyn stood to hug him.

He dropped onto the leatherette chair and rubbed his hands together. ‘I was going to ring you later,’ he said, eyeballing the cake and simultaneously shoving a forkful of it into his mouth. He rolled his eyes and made murmuring noises. ‘That is wicked.’

‘Amélie stayed over last night. She told me something strange. She thinks she saw Davies. She was at a bowling party in Uttoxeter when she noticed a man who looked like Davies, watching her. He disappeared shortly after they’d made eye contact.’

Ross chewed thoughtfully then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and picked up his mug of coffee. He peered at it. ‘Black?’

‘I thought you weren’t allowed milk.’

He guffawed. ‘You know I’m not allowed milk, or cake. How come you got me cake but no milk in my coffee?’

‘I thought black coffee would offset the cake,’ she replied, her face deadpan. ‘And I scraped some of the cream out of the cake before you got here so you didn’t eat so many calories.’

His shoulders rose and fell. ‘Sure you did. Okay, let me ask you something. Did Amélie voluntarily give you that information or did you interrogate her?’ His mouth lifted at the corners.

‘This is serious stuff, Ross. Of course I didn’t interrogate her.’

Ross clicked his tongue. ‘Robyn, you forget I know exactly how you operate. You’ve worked with me as both a police officer and as a private investigator. You have a knack for wheedling information out of people. Maybe you wanted to hear that Amélie thought she’d seen Davies and dropped subliminal messages or words into the conversation. Surely, she didn’t just blurt out this nugget of information. And if she had been convinced it was Davies, she’d have spoken to Brigitte, wouldn’t she?’

Robyn’s chin jutted forwards. ‘No. She said she doesn’t like talking to Brigitte about Davies. She doesn’t want to come across as resenting Richard. I honestly didn’t employ any techniques, Ross. Even I couldn’t guess she was going to suddenly claim to have started seeing men who looked like him in crowds, or at bowling alleys. It’s too great a coincidence. I get a photograph that suggests he’s alive and around the same time, Amélie thinks she’s seen him. Ross, help me. I’m not making this stuff up.’

He squeezed his hands between his thighs and nodded gravely. ‘Okay, let me think how best to handle this. I don’t want to question her again because it’ll spook her. Tell me exactly what she said and I’ll investigate it. I’ll go to the bowling alley with his photograph and see if I can find a staff member who might recognise him.’

‘I wrote down all the details last night when I couldn’t sleep. I thought you might ask me for them.’ She rummaged in her bag and extracted a sheet of A4.

‘I should have known you’d be one step ahead.’

‘So, have you found out anything?’ Robyn’s face was an emotionless mask even though her stomach had been somersaulting ever since he agreed to see her.

‘I followed up on the photograph immediately and sent it to a couple of airport security guys I’ve worked with in the past. One of them suggested it looked suspiciously like Birmingham Airport where he works. If it is the same store, and there’s no guarantee it is, we might be able to work out where the individual who took the photograph of Davies was standing.’

Robyn cupped her own mug to prevent her hands from shaking as she asked the next question. ‘Is there any chance we could get CCTV footage of that area, for that date?’

Ross prodded his cake with his fork. ‘If a crime had been committed, we might have been in a position to gain access to footage. I can’t see how it would be possible without a request from a higher authority. I’m not leaping up and down at this discovery because, for all we know, all other airport WHSmith stores could look identical. I’ve got an idea of how to find out more, and I’ll have to see what comes up. I’ve also put out feelers about Peter Cross.’

Robyn sighed. ‘I fear we’ll draw a blank there, and he’s probably the only person who knows exactly what happened that day.’

‘Ah, you have no faith in your amazingly clever cousin.’

He broke off a piece of cake and popped it into his mouth. Robyn, sipping her coffee, waited for him to speak again. She was mindful she needed to return to the office. As much as she needed to uncover the truth about Davies, she had duties to perform and killers to track.

‘I’ve not been on this a full day yet, Robyn. Sometimes these things take months.’

Robyn sat back and breathed out. She hadn’t realised she’d been holding her breath. She was satisfied that Ross was in charge of the search, and also looking after her well-being.

‘Thank you for believing me.’

‘Of course I believe you.’ Ross picked up the last piece of cake and studied it with a sigh. ‘Ah, that’s the problem with all good things,’ he said. ‘They come to an end.’ He shovelled in the cake and wiped the crumbs from around his mouth.

‘Now, I must take Duke to the park. So, my dear cousin, head back to your office and don’t give this any further thought. I’ll keep you in the loop and, Robyn, don’t expect too much, will you?’

‘I won’t. Thanks again, Ross.’

He rubbed at his cheek and said, ‘You can kiss me here.’

She chuckled heartily and gave him a playful thump on his arm instead.

‘Ouch! That’s more like it. My favourite cousin.’

‘I’m your only cousin.’

‘Just as well. I’d be running around like a madman sorting you all out. Imagine all that responsibility!’