‘I’ll never get up out of this,’ he said.

‘I use it for customers. They can never escape me,’ she said opening her dark brown eyes wide.

‘So, back to Saturday,’ Gillard said. ‘Tell me about what happened.’

‘Well, there’s not really much to say. My mother was always busy, and she was shooting backwards and forwards in the house doing things when I arrived—’

‘Just to be clear, that was at the house in Richmond, was it?’

‘Yes. I still have a bedroom there, though I’m often elsewhere overnight.’

Gillard looked up, with a questioning look on his face.

‘I don’t think my personal life is relevant at this moment, is it?’ She took a large gulp of coffee, and held the detective’s stare.

‘I’m hoping that almost nothing you tell me will be relevant to the crime, Ms Roy, but that doesn’t mean to say it should be withheld.’

‘I’m not withholding it. Look, you don’t understand what it’s like being a daughter in a family like this. My parents tried to arrange a marriage for me when I was very young. I fought like crazy to get out of that, but I also asserted my right not to be supervised or judged. Of course, that makes me toxic within the traditional Hindu community. A woman who demands to be treated as equal to a man. My gosh, no one would want her, would they?’

‘Okay, back to Saturday,’ Gillard said, hoping to follow an easier path to the evidence. ‘How did your mother seem, that day?’

Kiara shrugged. ‘Busy, I suppose. She had the phone clamped to her ear almost the whole time as she was making a fruit salad when I was in the kitchen.’

‘Did she seem worried? Had she mentioned any threats against her? Anything like that?’

‘No. She was pissed off about being tired, she hated her hair, which seem to be disappearing by the day. I mean she used to have such luxuriant tresses that would blow your socks off. There’s nothing I can really tell you. I think she went out before five, I don’t know where, but I’m sure her PA can tell you. As you probably have gathered by now, every day was a working day.’

‘So the last time you saw her was at five?’

‘Yes.’

‘And what were your movements after that?’

She eyed him suspiciously. ‘Well, I went clubbing in central London that evening, but before that I went to see my friend Sasha, and a group of us got ready at her flat. We were there for a few hours.’

‘I’m sorry to have to ask this, it’s just a formality. But your friends would presumably back up your story?’

She rested her hand delicately on his wrist. ‘Mr Gillard, I can emphatically assure you that I had nothing whatever to do with my mother’s murder. But if you don’t believe me, I will give you the addresses of my friends. I did not leave the club until just before six a.m. on the Sunday.’