‘I didn’t have a lot to do with them because they didn’t like me much. Charlotte told me that they thought I wasn’t good enough for her. That I was a bad influence.’

‘Did you ever fall out with them?’

He shook his head. ‘It never came to that. Besides, I tried to avoid going to the farm. I didn’t like it there and neither did Charlotte. She said it was creepy and her mum reckoned it was haunted. And there was always a bad atmosphere, mainly because Charlotte and her mum didn’t get on. Mary was always telling her what a disappointment she was, partly because she chose not to go to uni and because she didn’t want to follow in Mary’s footsteps and become a nurse.’

‘We’ve been told that Charlotte was a bit of a handful,’ James said. ‘And that she made life difficult for both her parents. Does that ring true to you?’

‘They were too strict with her. They tried to tell her who she should and shouldn’t spend time with and she didn’t like it.’

James paused for a beat to glance at his notes, then said, ‘I’d like to come back to the family dynamics later, but for now, can you tell me why you went to Oaktree Farm on Christmas Eve if you didn’t like being there?’

‘Charlotte banged on about it for weeks because the place was being sold and it was going to be the family’s last Christmas there,’ Savage said. ‘They were all making a big deal out of it so I agreed to go even though I didn’t fancy it.’

‘And what time did you arrive?’

‘About five. Charlotte finished work at the charity shop and she came back to the flat. We set off soon after.’

‘And what happened when you got there?’

He shrugged. ‘Nothing much. Mary was by herself because Robert was in Kendal seeing his bank manager. She opened the wine and told us to relax. The plan was to eat when he got home. But that’s not how it worked out.’

He was breathing more heavily now and beads of sweat were popping up all over his forehead.

‘We’d been there for a couple of hours when one of Charlotte’s friends phoned her,’ he went on. ‘Heather, she’s called. She told Charlotte that I’d been shagging someone else.’

‘And was it true?’ James asked, to see if Savage would lie to him.

He didn’t; just pushed out a sigh and nodded. ‘It was an ex of mine. Her name’s Amy. We met by chance earlier on Christmas Eve when I was in town and ended up back at her flat. Heather happened to see us together and then thought it would be a good idea to grass me up.’

‘And how did Charlotte react?’ James asked.