Detective Humphreys, for her part, had led an operation that had resulted in Rebecca’s death, a high-profile case. She must have been clutching at straws to keep her job, that’s why she’d pushed Robert Cunningham so hard, reneging on the original deal and asking, as Marcelo put it, two more questions for every answer. Alison was desperate to find out which officer had been double-crossing her team. The answer was Alan Holton and his partner Brian Clarke. My father had found that out the hard way. Maybe Alison had opened up the cold case, eighteen months ago. Maybe that was why she’d been attacked?

There were still gaps in my narrative – Alan and Brian were dead, so they couldn’t be killing anyone over the photographs – but something was emerging, like a chairlift pillar through the fog.

‘Michael was the second death at Sky Lodge,’ I said, returning from my thoughts to see Edgar and Siobhan gazing expectantly at me. ‘Maybe, if they’re linked, you’ll recognise the first victim too. Perhaps someone else who helped with the kidnapping negotiations. Juliette, would you mind showing them the photo?’

‘I don’t have the photo,’ Juliette apologised. ‘I haven’t even seen it – after I checked everyone off my guest list, there wasn’t any need, as none of our staff or guests were missing. Crawford was only showing select guests who’d cause the least panic. I was not on that list, apparently.’

I turned back to the McAuleys. ‘Did you have anyone up here with you? Friends? Hired security?’

‘Just us,’ Edgar said.

‘That’s enough. Where’s our daughter?’ Siobhan finally let it all out in a wail, unable to wait any longer for me to answer. ‘Take it. Take it!’ She thrust the suitcase at me, but I pushed it back a little too hard and she stumbled backwards. She didn’t fall (the room was too small for that), but she bounced lightly off the wall and then cradled the case to her chest, deflated. ‘That’s all we know, we swear. We just want to put her to rest. Even if we never find who did this to her, we just want to bury her. Please.’

‘She was buried in a policeman’s coffin – that’s how they hid her. They must have paid off the coroner.’ I knew this was hard for them to hear, so I let them have a moment to digest it, and for me to build up the courage to tell them the bad news. ‘Unfortunately, that coffin is now at the bottom of Sky Lodge lake.’

Siobhan gasped, tears brimming.

‘We can hire divers, honey,’ Edgar consoled her.

‘Pretty morbid, buying your daughter’s corpse,’ Juliette said, unprompted.

‘Pretty morbid selling it,’ Edgar replied.