‘Do you know what? I think I might have had enough of the bloody Sinclairs. I actually think they are more trouble than they’re worth. I’m certainly not flavour of the month around here. Might be time for me to get a pay-off, from all of them, and leave. Yes, leave before it’s too late.’

Elizabeth’s bravado faded and apprehension filled her eyes.

‘I should probably get out while I still can.’

The recording ended.

‘Wow,’ muttered Steph out loud. Elizabeth was like a hand grenade when it came to the Sinclairs.

She clicked on the final file and this time the recording cut to a hotel room.

Here we go, thought Steph. She watched as the woman, whose face couldn’t be seen, but obviously Camilla, came into shot, standing in front of the recording device as she pressed the record button. Steph cringed as the scene unfolded on her laptop. She fast-forwarded it, giving the recording the merest of glances as she made her way to the end. She took her headphones out of her ears. Seeing was bad enough, without having to listen to Owen too. Finally, the recording ended and there was nothing more on the card.

For good measure, Steph made a copy onto the hard drive of her laptop and onto a spare memory stick before taking out the memory card and hiding it.

She lay down on her bed, still fully dressed, and pondered what she’d found out. There was definitely motive for more than one person of the Sinclair family to want to silence Elizabeth, but who was the most capable of murder?

Chapter Thirty-Six

Two Years Earlier,
Conmere, 24 September, 3.00 p.m.

Elizabeth pulled up on the driveway to her and Harry’s lodge and was unsettled to see Harry’s car under the car-port, as she had been under the impression he was out with Owen today looking at some new horses.

As she parked she inspected her face in the vanity mirror on the sun visor, grateful she had reapplied her lipstick after leaving Dominic less than an hour ago. The red mark on her chin from where his stubble had grazed her skin was still visible, but she was sure Harry wouldn’t notice, although if he did she’d blame it on some reaction to a new moisturiser.

She took a deep breath before getting out of the car. Her clandestine meeting with Dominic had started well and the sex had been amazing as always but after that it had rapidly gone downhill.

‘Time to call it a day,’ he said so casually as they dressed that at first she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. He repeated himself, slowly and clearly.

‘Just like that?’ She felt insulted at his careless manner. She wasn’t some piece of trash.