She felt like she’d been hit on the back of the neck with a sandbag. How could she have been stupid enough to trust Alex? He’d assumed that anyone in the room apart from Sophie must be a suspect and saw the prospect of earning himself a few quid by falsely testifying. Unfortunately for him, he’d picked the one person who had no reason at all for killing Alison Maxwell. Lindsay wished she were anywhere in the world but here.

A few minutes later, Sophie returned. She went straight to Lindsay and cradled her head in her arms. “He’s gone,” she whispered. “Poor Lindsay.”

They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity, then Lindsay sighed. “I feel such a complete jerk.”

“I know. There was no way you could have predicted that he’d do that. He seemed so plausible.”

“I know. I was so sure he was telling the truth. It crossed my mind that he might be blackmailing Harry over the murder, and that he was saying it was a woman so his little racket could carry on. But after I’d seen Harry’s performance when he handed over the money, I gave up that idea. Neither of them behaved as if there was a hidden agenda. And I didn’t think Alex was a good enough actor to con me like that. How wrong can you get?”

“But I was sure he was telling the truth, just like you. Then when he pointed to Cordelia like that, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Sophie sympathized.

Lindsay got to her feet and started pacing the floor. “I just can’t believe it’s all gone so wrong,” she said. “I was positive that Alex would give us what we needed. How could I have been such a bloody fool?”

“Stop beating yourself up, Lindsay. You did what you thought was the right thing. It’s not your fault that it went wrong.”

“Who’s fault is it, then? I had to go for the grand gesture, instead of being sensible about it. I should just have taken him along to Jim Carstairs and let him loose on a pile of mug shots. But oh no, I had to be the big shot. And look at me now. Everybody thinks I did it to get even with Cordelia, and they couldn’t be more wrong,” Lindsay ranted.

“I know that, and you know that. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, does it?” Sophie consoled her.

“In theory, no, but in practice, yes. But you know what pisses me off almost as much as that?”

Sophie shook her head. “Tell me,” she said.