‘Our second victim? So we’re back to Charlie’s theory that Danny was killed in revenge. Nah, I don’t buy that. Oh, I’m sure Danny was a show-off all right, and cocky with it. But maybe lots of lads are at that age. No, I’m thinking of Michael Morgan. Seems to me that his acupuncture business is more about theatre than medicine. He likes to create a scene, cause a distraction. People believe in the magic and that makes them feel better.’

‘Why kill Danny?’ Joe was playing the stooge again, feeding her the lines.

‘We know they met. Maybe Morgan let slip something of what he was planning. Danny was desperate for money. I wouldn’t have put it past him to try a bit of blackmail.’

‘Why would Morgan choose the Willows for his stage set in the first place? He must have realized we’d find out he worked there. And surely he’d be the last person to dump Jenny’s bag in Connie’s garden. He wouldn’t want us raking over the Elias Jones case again.’

Vera sat for a moment in silence. ‘Bugger,’ she said cheerfully. ‘You’re right of course. I can’t stand the bastard and I’d like to see him charged for something. Wipe the arrogance off his face. No way to run an investigation, that. You should never let it get personal.’ She grinned at him, aware that she let it get personal all the time. The flames caught one side of her face; the rest was in shadow and for a moment she looked very young, almost flirtatious. ‘What’s your theory then, Joe? Where am I going wrong?’

‘I think Jenny Lister was killed by someone close to home,’ Joe said. He’d only had one beer, but it had given him the confidence to throw out a theory without thinking it through. It had just come into his head as Vera was speaking. ‘The Willows was chosen to throw us off the scent. Unless it was an impulse killing, you wouldn’t choose the place where you worked to commit a murder. So I’m thinking one of Jenny Lister’s contacts from Barnard Bridge. That’s where her bag was found, after all.’

He’d expected her mockery, some comment about him reading too many old-fashioned detective stories, but she took the comment seriously. ‘Well, that limits the field. Are you including Hannah in your suspects?’

That threw him. ‘No! Well, maybe.’

‘We’ve only got her word that she didn’t go with her mam for a swim that morning,’ Vera said. ‘Nobody saw the girl in the health club, but that means nothing. Jenny could have used her card to swipe the girl through. I’ve seen it done.’