Patel’s jaw dropped, as if a hinge had come loose.

‘Who are you talking about?’ he said.

‘I’m talking about Daniel Curtis. He was stabbed to death last night while walking home from The King’s Head. It would have happened not long after you asked him if he’d molested any young girls lately.’

For a few moments Patel appeared too shocked to speak. As he stared at James, the tendons in his neck became so taut they looked ready to snap.

When he finally spoke, his voice was acidic. ‘This is beyond a fucking joke now. When you were here before you tried to pin those first two murders on me. Now you think I killed that pervert Curtis. Well, I didn’t.’

‘We should discuss this inside,’ James said.

‘But I made it clear last time that I won’t talk to you again without a lawyer.’

‘In that case we’ll have to take you to the station in Kendal and you can call one from there. Or we can arrange for the duty solicitor to represent you.’

The prospect of a trip to Kendal clearly did not appeal to him. He let out a loud breath through his teeth and gave a resigned nod.

‘Bugger that,’ he said. ‘I’ve got nothing to hide so come in and let’s get this over with.’

He took off his coat and hat and they followed him into the living room.

‘This is Detective Constable Abbott,’ James said when they were all seated.

Patel didn’t even look at her. Instead, he maintained eye-contact with James, and said, ‘It’s true I had a dig at Daniel Curtis when he stood next to me in the pub. I couldn’t resist it. The guy was a nonce and he wasn’t welcome in this village. It annoyed us all that he kept on coming back. But when Martha suggested I leave that’s what I did. And I came straight home.’

‘Did anyone see you?’ James said.

‘Not likely. It was late and most of my neighbours don’t do late.’

‘Did you have any run-ins with Daniel in the past?’ DC Abbott asked him.

‘I threw the occasional insult his way,’ he said. ‘But it was never more than that.’

‘And was Daniel one of the people you hold responsible for your mother’s death?’

The muscles around his eyes tightened a little. ‘Not at all. He didn’t know Mum, but she knew about his antics so she would not have let him anywhere near her house, even if he was her only option.’

The more questions they put to him the more irritable he became. His breath was coming in fast, high-pitched gasps and the tension showed in his features.

When James asked him if they could search the house, he expected Patel to start yelling for a lawyer. But he surprised them by shrugging his shoulders.

It should have been a job for a forensic team but James didn’t know how long it would take them to show up. He told Abbott to search upstairs while he checked the kitchen and living room. But it didn’t take them long to decide there was either nothing to find, or Patel had got rid of anything that would tie him to one or all three murders.