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aby would be too much, for both of us.’
‘How did she react?’
‘Badly. Very badly. She felt that I’d betrayed her.’
‘Did she say that?’
‘She did. She freaked out, for want of a better expression. I’ve never seen her so angry, or
distraught. And I’m afraid I lost my temper, I was at the end of my tether, and I told her that I thought
we might need some space from each other.’
‘And how did she react?’
‘She stormed out of the room, the expression on her face was awful, and I didn’t follow her, I let
her go. Grace, our second daughter, was waiting in the hall, ready to go to a riding lesson. That’s how
scheduled our lives were – we barely had time for an argument! Anyway, I didn’t want to make any
more of a scene in front of Grace so I called out to Nicky that I was driving Grace to her lesson, and I
cooled off a bit while I was there, and I regretted some of the things I’d said, and I hoped Nicky had
too, that we might discuss things more calmly that evening. But when Grace and I got home, she’d
gone.’
‘Gone?’
‘Completely. She’d packed a case, and driven away. She’d told our eldest daughter to look after
the two little ones until I got home but didn’t tell her why. And, unfortunately, the girls saw Nicky put
her suitcase in the car, and they could see that she was very upset, so when I got back they were in a
bit of a state, to put it mildly. It was a terrible shock for all of us.’
‘Have you spoken to her since?’
‘We speak a lot, but it’s very frustrating. She won’t discuss the future with me. She won’t plan or
meet up to talk. She just says she needs more time. I’m trying to be patient, but I’m angry about the
effect it’s having on the girls. We all love her, that’s the thing, of course we do, but we can’t always
be what she wants us to be.’
If I’d judged Simon Forbes harshly at first, on the basis of his website, his profession and his
appearance, then I’d been a fool. This was a sensitive, intelligent man, with apparently extraordinary
reserves of patience, and he’d been hurt.
I drew breath. ‘Do you think your wife is unstable?’ I asked him.
‘She’s walked away from her children. That’s not the behaviour of somebody who’s stable.’
‘Are you here because you believe that she might be responsible for what’s happened to Ben?’
The question was painful for him, he’d had to put aside his pride to come here, and tell me this
stuff, and as he struggled to formulate an answer, I watched him try to put aside his love for his wife
too, but he didn’t quite manage it.
‘I wouldn’t go that far, I just thought you ought to be aware of our situation. She hasn’t even told her
sister.’
‘Thank you, Mr Forbes. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.’
I walked him to the main entrance; it felt like the least I could do.
Outside, on the top of the steps, waxed coat done up and leather driving gloves pulled onto thick,
strong-looking fingers, he spoke again.
‘I don’t know what my wife has or hasn’t done, Inspector. I can’t guess at that. I’m just telling you
what I think you should know. And in return I ask that you respect our family’s dignity as much as you
possibly can. I want to avoid inflicting any further pain on our daughters. Ben’s disappearance has
been extremely difficult for them as it is.’
‘Have you told your sister-in-law about this?’