There were now quite a few more people in the bar and restaurant, and as he walked outside he passed more coming in. The patrol car turned up within minutes and he handed over the two evidence bags.

He was about to go back inside when loud voices suddenly caught his attention. They were coming from the alley just to the right of where he stood, which ran between the pub and the building next door.

James paused to listen, and when he heard a woman yell, ‘Just fuck off and leave me alone,’ he knew he had to investigate.

A second later, he was standing in the mouth of the alley watching Sonia and Charlie Jenkins having a heated argument.

‘The bitch just phoned to tell me that you went to see her this morning,’ Sonia screamed at her husband. ‘So how do you expect me to react after she changed her story and told me you have been sleeping with her for months? You promised me it would never happen again.’

Charlie was a good six inches taller than his wife and his face was tense, jaw locked, as he gave her a hard, uncompromising stare.

‘It’s not true,’ he told her. ‘I went there to tell her to stay away from us and never to set foot in our pub again. She’s just out to stir things up.’

‘Oh, come off it, Charlie. You’re taking me for a mug. Things haven’t been right with us for some time and it even occurred to me that you might be seeing someone else, but I didn’t want to believe it.’

‘She’s lying, though.’

‘And why would she do that?’

‘Because she came on to me and I rejected her. I told her I’d never be unfaithful again.’

Sonia snapped then and slapped him hard around the face.

‘You bastard. I wish you were bloody dead. You’ve destroyed our marriage and let me down a second time.’

Charlie responded by grabbing her wrists, prompting James to rush into the alley to intervene.

‘That’s enough, you two,’ he shouted. ‘If it gets physical it gets dangerous.’

They both turned to him, their expressions frozen.

As James approached, Charlie let go of his wife’s wrists.

‘This has got nothing to do with you,’ he said. ‘How long have you been standing there?’

‘Just long enough to see that it was getting out of hand,’ James replied. ‘I heard shouting and thought that someone might be in trouble.’

‘He is in trouble,’ Sonia said, poking a finger at her husband. ‘But he doesn’t think he should be. He’s a liar and a cheat and I hate to think what he would have done to me if you hadn’t showed up.’

‘Oh, come off it,’ Charlie said. ‘It was you who slapped me.’

‘And you’re lucky that’s all I did.’

With that, Sonia turned sharply on her heels and stormed back into the pub through the side entrance.

Charlie started shaking his head.

‘I’m sorry you had to see that,’ he said to James. ‘We’re going through a tough time and the missus is finding it hard to control her temper.’