They said their goodbyes and when James came off the phone he said to Stevens, ‘We’ve another suspect, but would you believe he’s my wife’s own fucking uncle?’

Annie called James again just as the patrol car dropped them outside the village hall. He told DS Stevens to go in ahead of him while he answered it.

‘What’s up now, Annie?’ he said. ‘Has Bill shown up?’

‘Not in the last few minutes, he hasn’t,’ she said. ‘But that’s not why I’m ringing. There was something I forgot to tell you before. It’s about Lorna.’

‘I’m listening,’ he said.

‘Martha Grooms told me that she last saw Lorna on Wednesday evening at The King’s Head. She was having dinner there.’

‘What’s so unusual about that? I’m sure she could afford to eat out occasionally.’

‘Yes, I know, but she was with Giles Keegan and Martha made it sound like they were on a date.’

‘I thought you said she wasn’t in a relationship.’

‘That’s the thing. I didn’t think she was, and it might well have been a first date or just two friends getting together. But in view of what’s happened I thought I should tell you.’

‘And you were right to do so, Annie. It’s really helpful. We need to find out as much as we can about Lorna and the people she spent time with.’

‘So, will you be speaking to Giles?’

‘You bet we will. And we’ll do it before the day is out.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The village hall had been turned into a makeshift incident room. Several tables were being used as desks and the wall-mounted display panel was now an evidence board.

James was surprised and impressed that so much had been put in place so quickly. But it made perfect sense to set up an operational base as early as possible.

There were twelve officers present – four detectives, a SOCO, and seven uniforms, including Inspector Boyd. DCI Tanner had arrived and was deep in conversation with DS Stevens.

It was a fairly small hall and so it already looked pretty crowded. Meanwhile, more officers were still up at the crime scene in Willow Road as well as at the nearby primary school.

James went straight over to Tanner who, as usual, was well-groomed and sharply dressed in a dark grey suit, pale blue shirt and striking red tie.

He was a thick-set middle-aged man with cropped greying hair and a goatee that didn’t suit his plump face.

James still didn’t have the full measure of the man, but had already given him seven out of ten as a DCI. His big weakness was his habit of delegating as much as he could to more junior detectives, and his reluctance to get out of the office to attend crime scenes. But he was here now, which was a clear indication of how concerned he was about what was happening in Kirkby Abbey.

‘Are you up to speed on everything, sir?’ James asked him.