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what she said, and there was a train due about ten minutes after I dropped her so I had no reason to think anything else.’
    Sadler’s brow was creasing as he said, ‘But no one knows if she actually got on it.’
    ‘I’m hoping the CCTV cameras will help us with that,’ Miles reminded him.
    Sadler looked at Joy as she said, ‘Can you tell us if you and your wife had a row or anything before you took her to the station?’
    Miles’s expression was unreadable as he turned to her, but as he was about to answer the door opened and a stunningly pretty young girl with long blonde hair and her father’s deep-set dark eyes put her head round.
    Miles beckoned her to come and join them. ‘My daughter, Kelsey,’ he announced as Sadler rose to his feet. ‘Kelsey, this is DI Sadler and DC Joy.’
    Very politely Kelsey shook the detectives’ hands, then went to stand with her father.
    ‘I collected Kelsey from school last night,’ Miles said, feeling the need to explain. ‘She wanted to be here now that the police are involved in looking for her mother.’
    ‘Do you have any idea where she is yet?’ Kelsey asked.
    ‘I’m afraid not,’ Sadler replied, sitting down again.
    Kelsey glanced up at Miles, who gave her a reassuring smile. ‘I’m sorry, Inspector,’ he said, turning back to Sadler, ‘where were we?’
    ‘We were asking,’ Joy responded, ‘if you and your wife had had a falling out before you took her to the station.’
    ‘No, we hadn’t,’ he replied. ‘Nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.’
    ‘So no row, no accidents that we know of, no reason to suspect foul play – at this stage. I take it there’s been no ransom demand?’
    ‘If there had, I’d have told you,’ Miles assured her. ‘There’s been no communication at all.’
    Sadler said, ‘Then is there anything else you can tell us that might help explain why your wife would
choose
to absent herself from home for so long?’
    ‘She’s often given to spells of depression,’ Miles answered.
    ‘It’s all to get attention,’ Kelsey piped up.
    Miles allowed a moment to pass, then said, ‘My wife can be very withdrawn at times, hardly speaking at all, while at others she’ll be as communicative and responsive as the rest of us.’
    Sadler glanced at Kelsey, waiting to see if she had anything to add, but it seemed she didn’t. ‘I’m sorry to ask this in front of your daughter,’ he said, ‘but is there a chance your wife might be involved with someone else?’
    ‘You mean another man? I suppose we can’t rule it out,’ Miles replied, ‘but I would strongly doubt it.’
    ‘I can tell you now that she’s not,’ Kelsey confirmed. ‘That’s not what she’s about at all.’
    ‘Then what is she about?’ Sadler enquired.
    Kelsey’s only answer was to move in closer to her father.
    Tearing his eyes from her, Sadler said, ‘And what about you, Mr Avery? Are you—’
    ‘No, I’m not having an affair,’ Miles cut in.
    ‘Dad!’ Kelsey hissed.
    Miles sighed as he looked down at her. ‘You know very well,’ he began, but letting it drop he said to Sadler, ‘I was involved with someone a couple of years ago, when my wife and I weren’t together.’
    Sadler glanced at Joy to make sure she was getting this down.
    ‘I called her yesterday,’ Miles continued, ‘to ask if she’d seen or heard from my wife. She hadn’t.’
    ‘Why did you think she might have?’
    ‘Because Jacqueline has never been able to accept that my relationship with Vivienne is completely over.’
    ‘And could your wife be right?’
    ‘I’ve just told you, Inspector, I am not having an affair.’
    Sadler glanced at Kelsey, as though expecting her to contradict her father, but she seemed to have nothing more to say. ‘Is your wife likely to be a nuisance to … I’m sorry, what was her name?’
    ‘Vivienne. Vivienne Kane.’ He waited for Joy to write it down, then said, ‘My wife, by nature, is a very passive and private person,