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sofa, facing the two officers. Gasnier, with his ample frame, made the sofa look as if it was toy-size.
    ‘This must be a really difficult time,’ began Gasnier, looking across at Emma. She stared straight back at him, noticing that his eyes were an unusually pale blue, as if someone had inserted two marbles into the place where his eyes should have been. ‘I hear that you’re due to be married in a week or so.’
    She was surprised by the start of the discussion, and could only manage a nod.
    Gasnier looked down at his notebook.
    ‘We’ve got a lot of details here from the preliminary questioning. I hope the Police Constable treated you well?’
    ‘Yes, he was very nice,’ Emma replied.
    ‘Good to hear it,’ he quipped, ‘because that was my nephew.’
    ‘Oh, right.’
    ‘I tried to persuade him not to go into the force, but he wouldn’t listen. He’ll learn, though.’
    Davies bit back a smile, but Gasnier’s comment seemed more like an accidentally voiced internal thought than a genuine attempt at humour.
    ‘You said that you last saw Dan when?’ asked Gasnier, getting back to the questioning.
    ‘It was about seven. Seven o’clock on Friday, just before I went out.’
    ‘To –?’
    ‘To my hen party. Well, we were going to have a night out in London – me and some friends.’
    ‘And when did you notice that something was wrong?’
    ‘I got a call from my brother, Will. He said that Dan hadn’t turned up for the stag party. So we all went back to the flat to see if we could find him.’
    ‘All?’ Gasnier said, raising an eyebrow.
    ‘Lizzy and me.’ Emma gestured to the silent Lizzy. ‘Will was already there, waiting for us.’
    ‘Your brother was already at the flat?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Talk me through what happened next.’ Gasnier sat back and folded his arms.
    ‘Well,’ began Emma. ‘We went into the apartments and we could hear music playing from upstairs. When we got to the top we realised it was coming from my flat, so we went in looking for Dan. And that’s when we found Richard, in the bathroom. We thought he was dead at first, but Will did some first aid on him until the ambulance arrived.’
    Gasnier paused, looking unblinkingly at Emma. It was as if he was trying to read her, deciding whether she was telling the truth.
    ‘How was Dan in the days, weeks before he disappeared?’
    ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘A bit on edge really, but we both were, what with the wedding coming up.’
    ‘Does Dan have any enemies that you know of?’
    ‘No. At least I don’t think so.’
    ‘No one with a grudge – an ex-girlfriend, someone who he owed money to?’
    ‘Not that I know of.’
    ‘Have you ever suspected Dan might be having an affair?’
    ‘No,’ Emma said, sounding a bit too defensive.
    ‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Gasnier said. ‘But I have to ask, you understand. So there’s no reason you know of to explain why he might want to just get up and leave without saying anything to anyone?’
    ‘No.’ Emma resisted the temptation to say what she had feared: that he had left because he didn’t want to marry her.
    ‘Are Dan and Richard close?’
    ‘They’re really good friends. Richard was going to be Dan’s best man.’
    ‘Was Richard at your flat before you left to go out?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Did you know Richard was coming over to the flat?’
    ‘No, I didn’t.’
    ‘But he was coming to the stag party?’
    ‘He had been invited, but he couldn’t make it. He was supposed to be away on business.’
    ‘So what changed?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Who do you think attacked Richard, Emma?’
    ‘I don’t know. Maybe someone broke into the flat looking for money. We’ve had some problems around here with druggies.’
    ‘You don’t believe Dan did it?’
    ‘No, I don’t.’
    ‘You do realise that we are treating the attack on Richard as attempted murder?’ Gasnier stated. ‘And if Richard does die, this will become a murder investigation?’
    ‘I realise