‘He was there that morning too, was he?’ Holly chipped in, out to prove she wasn’t just here for the ride. Vera couldn’t blame her for that. Nothing wrong with a bit of ambition in a woman. ‘Was the session for partners too? Great that he wants to be so involved with the baby.’

‘It was an exercise class.’ Freya seemed to have relaxed. Perhaps after all she was just as stupid as Mattie Jones had been, but she hid it better. ‘Not for the fathers. Michael will come along to the antenatal group, of course. We’ve planned a completely natural childbirth. One of his friends is an independent midwife and we’re having the baby at home. Hiring a birthing pool and everything. But he just gave me a lift that day.’

‘I suppose he used the time to catch up on some work.’ Holly gave an encouraging little smile. Vera thought she was as bored by the details of motherhood as Vera herself and was glad to move the conversation on.

‘I guess so.’ But Freya was suspicious again. Had Morgan warned her on the subjects to avoid, if she were questioned alone?

‘Where did you meet up?’ Vera asked. ‘After the class, I mean.’

Silence. It seemed Morgan hadn’t given her the answer to that one.

‘Was he waiting in the car for you?’

‘I can’t remember.’

Vera paused until a waitress in torn jeans had swung past carrying a plate of bacon and eggs for a couple of labourers at the next table.

‘Of course you can, hinny. And we’ll find out anyway. A place like that, there’ll be CCTV in the car park and a load of witnesses.’ Although the CCTV tape had run out the night before the murder and nobody had bothered to replace it. ‘Much better if you give us the information yourself.’

Freya looked cornered. She made Vera think of the traps gamekeepers used in the hills. A wire mesh cage with a crow inside to lure in other raptors. Was it right to be using Freya as their decoy?

‘We’d arranged to meet in the car,’ Freya said. ‘But when I got out of the class he wasn’t there.’

‘What time was that?’

‘The class finished at ten.’

‘So what did you do?’ Holly asked. ‘Did you go to look for him? It’d be a good chance to bump into your old friends from work. Maybe grab a coffee, catch up on some gossip?’

‘I don’t have much in common with those people any more.’ That was Morgan, Vera thought, speaking through Freya’s lips.

‘So where did you go? To Michael’s office? Perhaps he’d got caught up in his paperwork and lost track of the time?’ This time it was Holly who was putting words into the girl’s mouth.

Poor child, Vera thought. She’s nothing but a ventriloquist’s dummy.