Trudy regarded the back of the man’s head for a moment, and then said gently, almost reprovingly, ‘Mr Thorpe, why are you so sure that Mr Parker kept the letter at all? Surely, the most logical thing for him to do, once you’d come around and stopped threatening to sue him, was to simply destroy it?’

*

‘Of course, he was obsessed about it,’ Mike O’Grady said from behind his desk, some twenty minutes later. Mr Thorpe was being officially charged with tampering with a police investigation, and Trudy would now have to type up the notes. ‘I’ve seen it before. Once someone gets an idea in their head …’ He shrugged at Trudy. ‘In his own mind, the letter was out there, and he had to stop us getting it. He’d probably got himself worked up into a right state, thinking he was about to be arrested any minute.’

Trudy nodded. ‘But the silly man had an alibi for New Year’s Eve!’ she pointed out in exasperation. ‘And now that we’ve got a mechanic working on the car at last, he’ll soon be able to confirm one way or the other if the vehicle was or wasn’t tampered with.’

‘Do you think it was?’ O’Grady asked, genuinely curious to see what she thought. She’d come through the interview with flying colours as far as he was concerned, and he was still happy to mine her for any insights she might have.

Trudy mulled it over for a second or two and then reluctantly shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think so. I think the killer was relying on the overdose of sleeping stuff to do the trick.’

O’Grady nodded and reached for her stack of files. ‘Well, I’d better get on reading this lot …’

But before he’d finished speaking, PC Swinburne came over and interrupted them. ‘Sorry, Sarge,’ he muttered, then turned to Trudy. ‘You really are popular today,’ he said with a grimace. ‘You’re needed up at Summertown. Does the Raven’s Rest Bed and Breakfast ring a bell with you? Because the landlady there knows you! She’s just been on the telephone demanding that you get over there right away. Apparently, that guest you were inquiring about is causing an almighty ruckus about something, and the landlady isn’t happy.’

Trudy blinked. ‘What? Phyllis Raynor?’

‘Yeah, that’s the name.’

‘But that doesn’t make sense …’ Trudy said, turning to look at the sergeant. ‘Do you want me to go and see what it’s all about?’

‘Who’s this woman and what is she to the case?’ O’Grady asked her sharply.