Wendy motioned for Steph to sit back down and, in what was possibly their first act of synchronisation in anything, both women lowered themselves onto their chairs in unison.

Wendy laid her hands flat out on the table in front of her as if bracing herself and then uncharacteristically fiddled with her wedding ring. ‘You’re more like me than perhaps I realised or you’d like to admit,’ she began. ‘Stubborn. Determined. Unflinching.’

Steph had never considered herself anything like her mother, but put like that, she couldn’t really deny it. ‘So it would seem.’

‘What I’m about to tell you is strictly off the record. I could still get into a lot of trouble for telling you this but … I’m going to because I’m concerned about you.’ She couldn’t quite meet Steph’s gaze and focused on her wedding band again. ‘When I began investigating Elizabeth’s death, I asked questions that the Sinclair family didn’t like. I didn’t take it at face value that her death was an accident; I wouldn’t have been doing my job properly if I didn’t look at all possibilities.’

‘What was your gut feeling?’

This time Wendy looked her daughter straight in the eye. ‘My gut feeling? It wasn’t as straightforward as the Sinclairs were making out. They were hiding something, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t know if it was directly related to Elizabeth’s death or something else.’ Wendy paused before speaking again. ‘I was called before my bosses and told in no uncertain terms that my findings were to conclude it was an accident.’

‘But I thought you were asked to leave because you handled it wrong?’

‘I was set up. I was being squeezed from all sides. Basically, I was a pain in the arse and they wanted rid of me.’

‘But why are you so insistent that I don’t stir anything up? I’m not doing anything illegal. The police can’t arrest me.’

‘I think the Sinclairs put pressure on my bosses. I’ve said before they are very influential, but it’s not just that. They’re dangerous as well. Everyone at Conmere was under suspicion, especially the husband.’

‘Harry?’

‘You’re on first-name terms with him already, but don’t be fooled by him or any of them. Blood is thicker than water, as they say, and it certainly applies to that lot. Basically, they closed ranks and put up this wall of silence which was impregnable. And still is.’

‘Wow, so Sonia Lomas is right to be suspicious.’ Steph sat back in her chair as she digested what her mum had told her. It sat uneasily with her that Harry was essentially the main suspect, but she tried to offset her disquiet with the notion that it didn’t fit with the Harry she knew. She just couldn’t see him murdering his wife.