That stopped her short. I actually saw the change come over her as she realised she wasn’t just being asked questions: she was under attack. ‘I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy.’

‘But you were in Paris for . . . two days?’ She didn’t answer, so he went on. ‘Where did you stay?’

‘The Bristol.’

‘Were you alone?’ Again she didn’t speak. Hawthorne looked at her almost sadly. ‘The thing is, Mrs le Mesurier, the police are going to ask you the same questions and you can’t lie to them. They’ll talk to the receptionist. And these days, there’s CCTV, phone records . . .’ He spread his hands. ‘I know it’s not very nice having to talk about personal matters, but it’s all going to come out anyway, so you might as well get it over with.’

‘I want a cigarette.’

‘Have one of mine.’ He took out a packet and they both lit up. It was strange to see two people smoking indoors, but I suppose it was her house. Their lungs. ‘So who were you with?’ Hawthorne asked.

The two of them had bonded in some strange way over the cigarettes. Suddenly, she was less antagonistic. ‘You have to understand,’ she said. ‘I did love Charles. I’d been married to him for fifteen years.’

‘No children?’

‘It didn’t happen for us, but we didn’t want children anyway. I’ve got nephews and nieces. That’s good enough for me.’

‘How did the two of you meet?’

‘I was an actress. He saw me in a production of The Sound of Music. I was one of the nuns. He offered me a job and things developed from there.’

‘What job?’

‘Modelling. PR. I helped him with his internet business and then we started going out together and in the end we got married. You didn’t know him so you may not understand, but actually I always knew what I was getting myself into. Charles was never going to stay at home and sit in an armchair, watching TV. He wasn’t that sort of man.’

‘What sort of man was he, Mrs le Mesurier?’

‘He liked life. He liked women. Lots of women. There was no stopping him.’ She looked to me for confirmation. ‘You must have seen him last night. Even that girl who was serving the drinks . . . he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. That’s how he was . . . in New York, in Saint-Tropez, in London. He was always on the move, always after the next conquest. I just had to live with it.’

‘Are you saying you didn’t mind?’