‘I went through the front door and spoke to the nurses. Even I’m aware that I’m fairly recognisable. No one’s going to believe that I’m stupid enough to kill a man then simply walk out as if nothing had happened. There’s no way I’d have got away with it.’

‘So you lost your temper when you were in there. Didn’t plan on killing him, just got cross. It all went wrong, so you did the only thing you could do, which was to exit the same way you went in.’

‘Are you on my side or not?’ he frowned.

‘I’m being a realist. You can’t breathe a word of this. If the DNA similarities between the two of you are discovered, you’ll have to plead ignorance.’ She stopped, shutting her eyes, shaking her head. ‘Oh God, Luc, is that why your mother disappeared when you were awaiting trial on the rape allegation?’

He nodded.

‘And you’ve dealt with all this, without telling me any of it? Why? I could have helped you, just listened, something …’

‘It wasn’t that simple, Ava. It’s taken me a long time to process. I thought that maybe I could let it go and move on. Now I wish I had.’

‘Which begs the question, who actually killed Bruce Jenson and why?’ Ava asked, emptying the remnants from the wine glass.

‘I have no idea,’ Callanach said. ‘My money would be on a nurse or medical assistant who’d been looking for an opportunity to kill and saw the perfect chance. No one else came to Jenson’s room while I was in there and it was late when I left. I doubt they’d have accepted any other visitors at that time. They’d have turned me away if I hadn’t shown my police badge.’

‘Do you know where Jenson’s former partner is?’ Ava asked.

‘Western? The best information I have is that he’s living in Spain, somewhere near Malaga. I haven’t contacted him.’

‘Thank God for that, so he’ll have no reason to mention your name when he hears the news. What about Jenson’s family? Would they recognise your name?’

‘I can’t imagine why. It’s not the sort of thing you admit to your wife and child, is it – raping a young woman and then continuing to pay her husband’s pay cheque for the next two years until he became terminally ill so you let him go?’

‘You must hate them,’ Ava said. ‘I don’t think I’d blame you if you had held that pillow over Jenson’s face.’

Callanach paled.