‘I realise you may have eaten already, but I haven’t had chance myself,’ she said. ‘So if you’ll excuse me.’

It was a good try as a disarming tactic, but Gillard knew he could go along with it and still get good answers to his questions.

‘So, how long have you been covering for Harry Roy?’ he asked, picking up a brownie.

‘More years than I care to remember,’ she said, pouring them all mugs of tea.

Michelle let out a soft moan of pleasure from her first taste of brownie.

‘You lied to me,’ Gillard said. ‘Your on-off relationship with Harry Roy was a sham.’

‘Yes and no. I’ve known for decades that Harry was bisexual. Our actual relationship only lasted a couple of years, but I still love him and have been happy to provide what you might call heterosexual cover for him for many years. I always wanted him to come out to his family, but he wouldn’t.’

‘Because he’d lose his inheritance?’ Michelle asked, through a mouthful of crumbs.

‘Yes, certainly while his father was still alive, but mainly because it would kill his mother. And of course in the end it did, just not in the way he expected.’

‘You’ve paid quite a price for it, haven’t you?’ Gillard said.

‘I’m pretty thick-skinned. It’s really only Prisha that was truly horrible. Besides, Harry has been very appreciative of my efforts, and that’s worth a lot.’ Her fingers strayed to the huge emerald ring on her engagement finger, to Gillard’s mind probably only the visible tip of the iceberg of Harry’s largesse.

Gillard then described the travel subterfuge that Zayan Lal had constructed to give him an alibi. ‘The only reason he needed that was to eliminate him the list of suspects.’

‘I’m absolutely shocked at this suggestion,’ she said. ‘He’s the gentlest of creatures, generally. Gets rather theatrical when he is upset.’

‘Do you call clubbing a woman to death with a hand weight theatrical?’ Michelle asked.

‘Obviously not. But what actual evidence do you have that he did it?’

‘We’re not in a position to disclose that at this stage,’ Gillard said. The proverbial locked cupboard with nothing within.

‘He adored Mrs Roy,’ Morag said.

Michelle almost laughed. ‘He would say that, wouldn’t he?’

‘She taught him how to cook, she taught him everything he knew. I promise you, he couldn’t have done it.’ It was as if she could somehow dissuade the detectives of their theory by listing Zayan’s qualities.

Gillard shook his head. ‘The world has a long history of hand-that-feeds-you biters. So you never saw anything suspicious about his behaviour?’

Morag sighed. ‘Well, obviously there were arguments between him and Harry. Zayan was hugely frustrated at having to keep such a low profile, and felt that Harry was stringing him along. They broke up about it a couple of times, but of course they always got back together again.’

‘What was Harry’s reaction in those rows?’ he asked.

‘Harry was Harry. He just played for time, holding out the hope of all this money for them both. I always thought that was a mistake, actually, and I told him so. Harry loved the money, but Zayan couldn’t have cared less about it. He just wanted Harry for himself.’