‘And what did you say to her?’

‘Nothing at all. Before I could respond she slammed the phone down on me. And that was when I went outside and confronted Charlie in the alley. And for your information, I didn’t really mean it when I told him I wished he was dead. I was just so wound up.’

‘So you believed what Janet told you?’

She nodded. ‘Of course. The woman had no reason to lie. What Charlie did was stupid. And wrong. It really got to me because he’d promised he’d never do it again.’

She closed her eyes and dragged in a long breath. James left it a moment and then told her that officers had, in the last few minutes, broken the news to Charlie’s mother in York and brother in Sheffield. They’d also contacted Sonia’s parents in Leeds.

She opened her eyes and choked back more tears.

‘I’ve tried calling my daughter in Dubai,’ she said. ‘But I can’t get through so I expect her phone is switched off. She’s going to be devastated. They were very close.’

‘We’ll keep trying to get in touch. Meanwhile, is there anything you need?’

‘Only to be left alone for a while,’ she sobbed. ‘I appreciate that Beth, Josh and the priest are trying to be helpful, but I’d rather just go and lie on my bed.’

‘I quite understand,’ James said. ‘I’ll see if they’re finished upstairs. And just so you know, a family liaison officer is on her way. She’ll make sure you’re not pestered by anyone during the night, and will be the point of contact between you and us, keeping you informed of how the investigation is progressing.’

‘We’re just about done here,’ DS Stevens said when James went upstairs to tell him that Sonia wanted to retreat to her bedroom. ‘We haven’t found anything that gives rise to suspicion, but I’ve got a few things for the techs to have a look at in the lab.’

He held up a carrier bag and explained that it contained the couple’s laptop and three long-bladed knives from the kitchen in the flat, plus two from the restaurant downstairs.

Then he dipped a hand into the bag and took out a Christmas card with an image of Santa Claus on the front.

‘This was on the mantlepiece in their living room,’ he said. ‘It’s from Mrs Jenkins to her husband. As you can see, the writing is smaller and much neater than the message that was scrawled on the card that you received. It doesn’t look to me as though they were written by the same person.’

James took the card and read it.

To Charlie

Merry Christmas from me. Love you lots and always will.

Sonia x

James agreed that the writing was very different, and it served to reinforce the conclusion he was coming to that Sonia Jenkins was not responsible for the Twelve Days of Christmas threats.

‘To do a proper sweep of the flat and the bar, we’ll need to bring in SOCOs,’ he said. ‘But it’s my guess they’ll be hard-pressed to come up with anything that’s hugely significant.’