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accusation, Mr Day. Why do you think he would be involved in this?’
    ‘He’s not well,’ said Laura.
    ‘In what way?’ said Kate.
    ‘Mentally,’ said Laura. ‘He has an unpredictable temper.’
    ‘Has he ever taken that anger out on Ruby? Has he ever harmed her?’
    ‘No, not that we know of,’ said Laura.
    ‘How did it manifest itself in that case? His temper, I mean?’
    ‘We had arguments with him,’ said Mike. ‘I’m not proud of some of them, but we thought we had Ruby’s best interests at heart. Dan’s bad news, he’s not good for her. And when she started going on about living with him, even marriage . . . the rows escalated. That’s when we saw how ugly he could be.’
    ‘He’s not good enough for her,’ Laura echoed, ‘and more than that, he’s trouble.’
    ‘Ruby was so blinded by what she thought was love, she just let him come between us,’ said Mike.
    So Ruby the perfect daughter wasn’t so smooth a ride. Come between us. That suggested to Kate there might be a rift. Rather than the breezy, ‘I’m off for a walk, see you in a bit,’ Ruby might have been an, ‘I’m going out and you don’t get to know where or why!’ type of daughter. She might have been in a sulk; distant, even.
    ‘Was he the first boyfriend you had issues with?’ said Kate.
    ‘Yes,’ said Mike. ‘She’s had boyfriends before, but not like Dan.’
    ‘The last one, James, he was perfect,’ said Laura. ‘Ideal, so sweet, polite, and he treated Ruby with respect. She ended it with him, though, and went after Dan. It broke my heart. I get it – I was her age, once. I went after the bad boys; it’s why I had her the way I did. They wasted my time, and I was terrified she would do the same.’
    ‘What do you mean? You had her the way you did?’
    ‘She’s not mine,’ said Mike. ‘She’s Laura’s daughter. Ruby was six when we married.’
    Kate looked at Laura, who was leaning her head against the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. So Mike was Ruby’s step father. Kate wondered at the relationship they might have shared.
    ‘Her father? Where is he?’ she said.
    ‘Mike is her father.’ Laura’s voice was harsh, sudden, defiant.
    ‘Her biological father?’ said Kate.
    Laura looked away, colour rising to her face. ‘There was a donor,’ she said.
    ‘I don’t understand,’ said Kate, understanding perfectly, but wanting to be sure.
    ‘I was single, chronically single. Kept making the same mistake again and again, the unsuitable boy, the unsuitable father. So I decided to take things into my own hands.’
    ‘Artificial insemination?’ said Kate.
    ‘Yes,’ said Laura.
    Mike held Laura’s hand, covering it with his own larger one.
    ‘So you see, Mike is her father. He’s the only father she ever knew, and there was no conflict. No biological father turning up, or Ruby going off to find one.’
    Kate knew the law had changed in 2005, long after Ruby’s birth, to allow a child to trace their biological father at the age of eighteen. It was why so many women were heading to Denmark, where anonymity was still guaranteed. That and the fact it was cheaper. More sperm donations, for some reason.
    ‘Thank you, Laura, I appreciate your honesty,’ said Kate. ‘I want you both to feel comfortable enough to tell me anything. Anything that might possibly help.’
    Laura took a sip of her drink, tears filling her eyes. Kate focused her questions on Mike.
    ‘You told DS Harris that you called Dan last night. When Ruby didn’t come home. Did you suspect his involvement in Ruby’s disappearance then?’
    ‘No, not at all. We tried him as a last resort, we were calling all her friends,’ said Mike. ‘It sounds so naive, but until we saw the video, we really didn’t think he was involved . . . ’
    ‘I’m still not sure I fully understand why you think he would do this,’ said Kate.
    ‘The arguments my husband described were in the past,’ said Laura. ‘Ruby was waking up to Dan.