The noise began slowly, swelling from the distance. At first I did not even realise it was for me – after all, it wasn’t unusual to hear rushing cars at night, bored kids driving too fast. The engines grew louder, and I froze as I saw two police cars turn down my street. Outside the door of my new flat, the same red car was parked – as I’d thought, that must have been an unmarked police one. Several officers were gathered around it, but that wasn’t all. The engines swelled and dipped as the cars came to a halt. Both ends of the street were blocked. As if I might run, as if I was dangerous. They had come for me. I didn’t move at all as the car doors clunked open, and DS Margaret Hope got out. Her face was grim as the streetlight swept over it, her grey mac swirling about her in the wind. ‘Rachel Caldwell, I’m arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Anna Devine. You do not have to say anything . . .’ I didn’t hear the rest of the caution. I realised I had backed away until I was pressed against the wet pebble-dashed wall of a nearby building. This was it. They had me now.

No DS Hegarty this time. It was Margaret Hope again, and another detective I didn’t recognise, an older Asian man with a lean, suspicious face. DC Bakshi, I thought he’d said. The two of them faced me over the interview room in Barrow station. ‘To confirm, Rachel, you have declined legal representation.’

‘I – yes.’ Was that stupid? Had my stubbornness condemned me again? It was certainly a lonely place, this side of the table.

DS Hope folded her hands in front of her. ‘Can you confirm your movements today, Rachel? You’ve been away from your flat for some time.’

‘I – I went to speak to a few people.’ What a day it had been. Alison, Jeremy, Ciaran, Marilyn, Alex. All different pieces of the same puzzle, and I still couldn’t make sense of it.

‘You’ve been harassing witnesses in fact, is that right?’

Alison Harper must have called the police, as she’d threatened to. I didn’t blame her.

‘Look, I’m sorry. I can’t sit at home doing nothing, I have to try and solve this.’

She frowned. ‘And you don’t trust us to do that? Our actual jobs?’

‘You keep arresting me! I didn’t do anything.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘Do I need to remind you of the evidence against you? Your motive, your lack of alibi, the fact you lied about finding the body?’