She patted Con on the shoulder as she left the room.

Con looked back at the screen. Eliza Ellis. ‘Why are you protecting him? Are you protecting Tom?’ he murmured. He tapped the table with his fingertips.

Finally, the first part of the interview was over and Melinda Tran walked out.

Eliza sat alone with her lawyer. Neither of them was speaking. The lawyer had angled herself away from Eliza and was very red in the cheeks.

Eliza stared up at the camera, a tiny frown behind her glasses.

‘Good job,’ said Con when Tran entered. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think you’re right: she’s trying to cover for someone else,’ said Tran. ‘She’s not as good an actress as she thinks she is. What next?’

‘Get Detective Coops to bring Murphy in for a chat. He should ask nicely, but without giving Murphy the option of saying no. He was there at the house with Eliza before we arrived: I want to know why.’ Con returned his eyes to the screen. ‘Meanwhile . . . Monica and Tom North are waiting to see Eliza. I say we let them have a chat, but somewhere they can be overheard. Then, afterward . . . how do you feel about teachers, Tran? I think Mr North needs someone to vent to about his sister-in-law’s betrayal.’

‘I’ll offer him a shoulder to cry on,’ said Tran with a wicked smile. ‘Let’s see if he’s a better actor than her.’ She left the room, her high heels clicking.

Con watched the monitor a bit longer, studying Eliza, thinking about his plan of attack for when he spoke to her himself.

The door opened and the young Constable Cavanagh stepped in, her face flushed. ‘Detective Badenhorst? I have a phone call for you, from . . . Pastor Hugh. Sorry, this is my personal phone. He called my number . . .’ She held out her phone to Con. ‘You need to hear what he has to say, but . . . keep it in this room. Don’t tell anyone else from this station.’

The pastor! He’d completely forgotten. That wasn’t a good sign. He took the phone from Cavanagh and, beginning with a profuse apology, listened to what the pastor had to say.

CHAPTER 32

MURPHY

Murphy pounded the steering wheel as he drove home from Eliza’s. He ignored the journalists outside his house and ran inside, slamming the door behind him.

‘Have you seen it?’ said Butch, excited, his laptop open on the table. ‘Madison put up a new video —’

‘I don’t wanna see it,’ said Murphy. ‘Eliza wasn’t sleeping with Cierra and you know it. Let me use the laptop – I’m gonna look at this USB of Madison’s, maybe there’ll be something on there I can take to Con to help Eliza.’

‘We’re calling him Con now?’ said Butch. ‘What, are you two mates?’

‘Shut up, dickhead.’ Murphy shoved the USB drive into the port of Butch’s laptop.