Miller held up his hand, interrupting him. ‘We have still not been able to determine if there was more than one person involved.’

‘Yes sir, but what I’m finding it difficult to come to terms with is that if she had committed this murder and left the premises knowing he was dead, would she have returned several hours later, when we had discovered the body?’

Miller looked unimpressed. ‘It could be that returning to the scene provided a way of explaining the bloodstains she already had on her clothes.’ He looked around the table. ‘Anyone else?’

No one responded.

Tyler checked his watch. ‘OK, we’ll reconvene at eight tomorrow morning. We need to get all the results back from the laboratory, but the consensus is that our prime suspect is now Justine Harris.’

*

Jane was giving Spencer a lift to Shepherd’s Bush so that he would be in time to meet his in-laws.

‘You were quite impressive in there, Spence.’

‘Yeah, well, he did his best to cut me down to size. I think he’s a right prick.’

‘I agree,’ Jane said. ‘And don’t forget, I had him all day. Tell me, do you think Justine could have done it?’

Spencer shook his head. ‘I think they’re barking up the wrong tree. From what I’ve heard she doesn’t sound very likeable, but I think she’s probably just a woman with a lot of problems. There’s something else too.’

Jane pulled up at a red light as Spencer continued.

‘It’s the dachshund. If she had organized someone to kill Foxley, would she really have taken the dog and left it there? Or, if he had the dog and she did the business, wouldn’t she have taken the dog with her? It was the dog that raised the alarm to the neighbor.’

Jane’s head had started thudding. ‘Well, she’s got all three dogs now. I don’t know . . . I honestly don’t think we have enough evidence.’

She dropped him off and headed home. There was no thought of fish and chips or Dexter; she just wanted to have a good night’s sleep. But as tired as she was, she made a mental note to tell the team doing house-to-house calls to check the garden at Justine’s Barnes property. She remembered George Henson telling her that Jack, the Jack Russell cross, often stole things and buried them in the garden.

She was just about to step into the shower when her phone rang. She decided not to answer and leave the caller to go through to her answering machine. It clicked on.

‘Hi, Jane. This is Elliott. I was just wondering—’

Jane picked up the phone. ‘Hello, Elliott. I’ve just walked in.’

‘Oh, hi, Jane. Look, I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot the other morning. I’m not used to training females.’