The excited buzz of conversation that sprang up in the wake of Lindsay’s accusation was stilled by Laura’s voice. “And it was right, you bitch,” she spat, the sophisticated veneer showing its first crack. “I wouldn’t have killed Ian! I loved him! I was distraught when we split up.”

“Yeah,” Lindsay said sarcastically. “So distraught you got yourself a dog he was wildly allergic to. Why was that, Laura? To keep him firmly away from you, so that you couldn’t have the kind of public row where he’d have blurted out the truth? But then, the dog hairs came in more useful than you could have imagined. You thought you’d committed the perfect murder. Until Tom Jack told you otherwise. Then you realized you had a price to pay. And you couldn’t afford it. So you started your program of embezzling union funds to meet the blackmail payments that Union Jack demanded from you. I don’t imagine for a moment that Tom knew where the money was coming from,” she added to placate Julie. “But once he became General Secretary, you knew you were living on borrowed time.”

Lindsay paused for dramatic effect, and to gauge the effect of her reasoned explanation on her audience. Most of the people she could see were beginning to look sideways at Laura, unwilling to catch her eye. Her drinking cronies had unconsciously moved away from her, distancing themselves from any taint. Laura looked around, her movements swift and staccato. “My God!” she exclaimed contemptuously. “Surely none of you believe a word of this poisonous rubbish? This is a woman who had to leave the country once before because the stories she was peddling were so ridiculous she could only get them published abroad.”

Unmoved, the crowd’s eyes turned back to Lindsay. “Where’s your proof?” someone called out.

“My proof’s the same as Tom Jack’s proof. A week ago, he fronted you up, Laura, didn’t he? You were going to be the sacrificial lamb so he could come out of the whole mess smelling of roses. He recorded it all in his little black book. You told him he’d never nail you, that you could destroy the evidence before he could get to it. Then he dropped his bombshell. He told you he’d already dug out all the expenses dockets you’d forged over the last nine years. You weren’t going to be able to destroy the evidence, so you destroyed Tom Jack.” Pandemonium broke out. Excited voices almost drowned out the rest of what Lindsay had to say. She raised her voice to a shout. “You thought no one else would find the evidence, or if they did, it would be meaningless. But I found it, Laura, and I know exactly what it means.”