Tyler was now in a foul mood as he made his way towards the incident room. It was becoming a daily occurrence with the persistent group of press waiting at the gates into the station yard. Even though he gave the station prior warning of his arrival, the ineptness of some of the probationary officers never ceased to amaze him.

Entering the incident room, he looked over to the team who were all at their desks, then went straight into his office and slammed the door shut behind him.

Miller’s head appeared over the partition, then quickly disappeared. He was using the departed DI Arnold’s coveted corner desk and had acquired a further screen around it for privacy. He was working with the FBI agent Harry Bellamy, who was listening intently to the tapes Miller had recorded during his interview with Justine.

As the tape was turned on and off, Jane was working at her desk and could clearly overhear. It was making it hard for her to concentrate as Bellamy constantly asked Miller to replay a section of the tape, stopping, rewinding, listening. The two men had been closeted together for almost as long as it had taken for the interview. It was coming up to five p.m. when they finally went in to discuss their conclusions with Tyler.

Jane gestured to Spencer, asking if he would like a cup of tea, and together they went up to the canteen. As they waited in line for their tea and a fresh cheese sandwich for Spencer, Jane was holding the empty tray.

‘I suppose you know about the Adidas trainer, the one found in Justine’s wardrobe?’ Spencer said. He moved along the line to the cashier, picking up two Kit-Kats. ‘Apparently DS Lawrence is almost certain it would be a match to the bloody right footprint they lifted from the murder scene.’

Jane carried their now-full tray to a table.

‘It’s a bit ridiculous, isn’t it? I mean, why keep one trainer and not the other? Why not get rid of them both?’

‘Reality is, Spence, there were bloodstains all over her coat, too. Everyone knows that she was at the murder scene and she could quite easily have stepped in the blood while she was there.’

‘Then why did she get rid of the blood-stained trainer?’ Spencer asked.

Jane shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It was all quite weird at the house. Everything seemed really normal at first. In the drawing room, the lovely kitchen, in the master bedroom . . . then I opened the door into the room Foxley must have been using and it was horrible. What was really freaky was that it was as if he had just tossed the duvet back. There was an indentation on the pillow and in the mattress, as if he had just got up and left. I asked her when her ex-husband had last been there and she couldn’t give me an exact date.’