‘Yeah?’

‘Well, the first is the timing of that photograph of Eden Paternoster in front of the lake at Parham House. Her husband claimed it had been taken this past Sunday afternoon, the first of September. But Aiden Gilbert has already established from the digital date stamp that he was lying, and it was actually taken over a week earlier, at 1.50 on Saturday August twenty-fourth. You know that already, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, EJ, who has been working with me, now has corroboration from the diagnostics team at Chandlers. The BMW’s satnav log, which records all journeys whether it is activated or not, shows it travelled to Parham House that afternoon, and was there, stationary, during the exact time this photograph was taken. This is further corroborated by Aiden Gilbert’s analysis of Niall Paternoster’s phone. The plot of its movements matches exactly that of the BMW. As does the plot of Eden Paternoster’s phone. Which indicates that the couple actually drove there together, in this vehicle, eight days before he maintains he took the photo of her. And this is doubly confirmed by Louise’s interrogation of the ANPR cameras. These corroborate all the BMW’s movements, with further evidence from two Highways Authority traffic-flow cameras. The examination also confirms the journey to Parham House from Niall’s account of what happened this past Sunday.’

Grace thought for a moment about the ramifications of this. Was Paternoster thinking his lie about the photograph date wouldn’t be found out?

Branson continued, ‘We’ve heard back from our enquiries at Parham House and there’s no CCTV or records to confirm either Niall or Eden were there on either weekend. And there’s more. This is where it gets even more significant.’

Grace took a sip of the coffee. It was hot and very slightly fizzed the tip of his tongue.

‘The Outside Enquiry Team spoke to the Paternosters’ immediate neighbour, to the north of their house. An elderly, retired woman who they described as something of a busybody – but with all her marbles. She said that around 6.30 p.m. last Thursday, August twenty-ninth, she was out weeding her lawn and could smell – and hear – the Paternosters were having a barbecue in their back garden. Some while later, she can’t remember exactly when, she heard them having a terrible row. She said that wasn’t unusual, she’d often hear them arguing about something or other, but she said this one was particularly bad. They were screaming at each other and at some point it sounded like one of them had hit the other. She’d been so worried that she’d seriously contemplated calling the police, but she didn’t want the Paternosters to think of her as the nosy, interfering neighbour, so she’d left it and went indoors – there was something she wanted to catch on television.’

‘Did she hear anything more?’ Grace asked.

‘Not of the row, no. But what she did hear, she said, because she’s a light sleeper, was the Paternosters’ car starting up at 2.10 a.m. She was precise about the time, she said, because it woke her and she looked at her alarm clock. She heard it drive off. She was surprised because it was unusual, although she hadn’t thought too much of it, as she knew from her occasional chats over the garden fence with the Paternosters that Niall often worked night shifts driving a taxi.’