Silence prevailed. Turner looked at me intently. If this was a tactic to make me talk, it worked. I gabbled on. ‘My husband was a monster. A bully. A tyrant. I was terrified of him. We all were. I spent my life running scared. He didn’t beat me, but he did other, more terrible things, more scary things. Nothing visible, he was too clever for that. But the things he made me do. The threats he made about my children …’ I shook my head. ‘All sorts. Horrific. When I saw him lying there, I knew I wanted him dead. Had often thought about it. I left him there until … you know.’

I looked at my hands, clenched before me on the table. The nails of one were digging into the back of the other. There was a trace of blood. The girl, Holly, saw it too.

‘How long did you wait for, Mrs Palmer?’ asked Turner quietly.

‘I don’t know,’ I whispered.

‘You were in shock?’

‘Yes, but – no. Not really. I felt very rational. Very calm.’

‘Not panicky.’

‘No. And you see, the boy, the young lad, he would have just pushed Michael and run. He just wanted our phones, money, whatever. I, on the other hand, wanted him dead.’

Turner was still regarding me intently. ‘But only you can corroborate this. There was no one else in the house.’

‘No, but the study blinds weren’t pulled, you see. And the woman at the back, behind us, was up. I saw her light on. Only briefly. Up to now I’ve persuaded myself I imagined it, but I know I saw it. When I came down.’

Without taking his eyes off me, he put his hand out. Holly passed him a file. He opened it. Read for a bit. ‘Mrs Schroeder?’

‘Yes.’

‘We have spoken to her.’

‘I thought you would have.’

‘She said she didn’t see the break-in, she must have been asleep, but she woke for some reason, perhaps she heard a shout, and did see you arrive in the room. She said the French door was open and there was a man on the floor. She saw you crouch down and reach for your phone a moment later. She saw the light from it. Saw you put it to your ear. That’s why she didn’t ring the police herself, report what she assumed was a break-in. She says the emergency services arrived soon after.’

I stared at him, astounded. Dumbfounded. At length I spoke. ‘But … I – I didn’t. That just didn’t happen. That’s not true. It was just in my hand, my phone. For ages. I sat there for ages, in the dark … it seemed like ages.’