‘I’m not sure. I think she would have told me if that was the case. We got on fine. Why wouldn’t she?’

The question hung between them. Perez returned to his food without answering. He wondered if Willow’s judgement was compromised.

‘Evie Watt is not a liar.’ Willow couldn’t let it go. ‘I just can’t accept it. She’s a decent woman who got pissed on her hen night. There’s no more to it than that.’

‘Maybe you’re right.’ Perez shrugged. ‘But we should keep an open mind.’

‘Anything else?’ Willow was eyeing up the cakes through the open door. Making it clear that she didn’t need telling how to do her job.

‘I have definite evidence that Jerry Markham and John Henderson met on that Friday afternoon.’

‘What sort of evidence?’ He had her full attention now.

Perez described his meeting with the Scatsta employee.

‘What time was that?’

‘Around two-thirty. Just before the fog came down and stopped all the flights.’

‘Might that explain why Evie was behaving so weirdly on Friday evening?’ Willow asked. She wiped a piece of bread around her soup bowl, then ate it. ‘If Henderson had told her he’d met Markham. She’d be angry, wouldn’t she, that Markham was back, meddling with her life. Angry with both of them for getting together behind her back. It would seem almost as if they were ganging up on her. Or making decisions about her future without consulting her. As if she was a little girl.’

Perez thought about this.

‘What decision could there be to make?’ he said. ‘John and Evie were going to be married. No question. Markham hadn’t seen her for years. What could he want to tell Henderson? Something that might persuade him to break off the engagement at the last minute? Is that what you’re suggesting? It would certainly explain Evie’s weird behaviour at the hen do, if that was the case.’

‘I don’t know!’ Willow put her head in her hands, a dramatic gesture. She had to push her hair away from her face. ‘It’s so frustrating. We’re getting glimpses of a picture, but just not seeing enough to tell what really happened.’ She paused, struggling to explain. ‘Like a reflection in a broken mirror.’

‘Phone records might help,’ Perez said. ‘It would be useful to know if Henderson spoke to Evie after he saw Markham, and before she went out for the hen night.’

‘Of course they would! I’m still waiting for them, though. Some computer meltdown with the provider. I meant to chase them up again this morning.’ She looked up at him. ‘Do you think the meeting at Scatsta had a more obvious outcome? Did John Henderson kill Markham?’