Jo told him the phone call had been about a woman who wanted to have her husband declared dead. Smith thought for a moment and then said, 'Hmm. There must be a few million women in this country who feel like that. I take it her husband's been missing for a while and she's decided it's time to move on. In the absence of a body, which is always a nuisance, she wants Diver and Diver to confirm there's no proof he's alive. And I've told Jason a dozen times I'm not getting involved in anything matrimonial. I have enough trouble sorting out my own relationships.'

But on this occasion Smith has it wrong. The insurance company which will have to pay out a very substantial amount of money if Amanda Fitch obtains her certificate of presumed death has engaged Diver and Diver Associates to look into the disappearance of Gerald Fitch, more than five years ago now. As Jason Diver says, he has the very man for the job. All he has to do is to persuade that man to take it on.