Rich’s clothes had been taken from him, sent for the same testing that would be done on the rest of his belongings. The jumper he’d been given to wear was too small for him, the material straining against his build. The tattoos on his neck seemed to be struggling against his skin to break free.

Mark looked down, so he didn’t have to feel intimidated any longer.

‘Please state your name for the recording,’ Cavanagh said, once Mark had given him the nod.

‘Richard Burns.’

‘You’re uncle to Emily Burns,’ Cavanagh said, quickly and without pause. ‘Is that right?’

‘You know it is.’

‘Now, you’ve already been asked about your movements of the past few days. Before and after Emily’s death.’

‘Yes. And you can’t say I haven’t told you everything. Anything to get this out of the way so you can concentrate on finding out who actually did this.’

‘Rich, that’s what we all want here, but you have to agree that there are unanswered questions you have to answer. Does that seem fair?’

Rich sighed and lowered his head. He laid his hands on the table, palms down, and looked at Mark. ‘I know my past. You know it. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, still do some things I won’t mention. When it comes to family though, that’s different. I’m different. I wasn’t as lucky as some others. By the time I was doing the stuff you wouldn’t like to hear about, it was already too late. Mark, you’ve been around me, the family, all week now. You should know I wouldn’t be capable of doing anything like this.’

Mark shifted uncomfortably in his seat, aware of the recording of familiarity that would now be on file. ‘Rich, just answer honestly and we can move on. Right?’

Rich nodded at him in response, sitting up and then leaning back again. Mark looked at Cavanagh and received a nod in return.

‘Your relationship with Emily, how was it?’

‘It was close,’ Rich replied, his voice low and cold. He shook his head; sadly, it seemed. ‘More so recently. She was getting down on herself a lot. I heard some stuff and just thought she might be heading down a dark path. I’ve seen it before and didn’t want that for her. For our Julie. And now look – I’ve failed them all.’

‘And you didn’t think to tell us what was happening?’

‘And have you think she was just depressed? You think we would have got a detective in our house every day if you just thought she was gonna top herself?’

Mark shaped to answer, but anything he said would have been a lie. Instead he moved back to what he wanted to know. ‘What was going on with her? Was it the online stuff?’