He paused there and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes.

‘What happened next?’ James said.

Savage cleared his throat before responding.

‘We all pleaded with her to put the gun down but she wouldn’t. It was a crazy situation and I was afraid she was fucked enough to pull the trigger, so I decided to leave. My overnight bag was still in the car so all I had to do was get my coat and walk out. And that’s what I did.’

‘And can you clarify something for me?’ James said. ‘When you walked out, were they all standing between the kitchen and the lounge area?’

‘They were, yes.’

Savage leaned forward across the table and wiped a palm across his sweaty forehead. His lawyer poured him a glass of water from the jug on the table and told him to drink it.

James and Tanner watched him as they digested the information about the shotgun. Assuming he was telling the truth, it was a real turn up for the books. It hadn’t occurred to either of them that it was Charlotte who had introduced the weapon. But it did explain why her prints were on the gun along with her father’s.

Savage gulped down the whole glass of water and then assured his lawyer that he was okay to continue.

‘We need to be clear about what happened after you left the house,’ James said.

‘I drove away from the farm but my head was spinning and I couldn’t focus properly,’ he replied. ‘It hit me all at once – the shock, the drink, the pills. I gather you know that I ran into the back of another car, but it was nothing serious so I didn’t stop because I didn’t want to be done for driving whilst drunk.’

‘Where did you go?’

‘I knew it’d be too risky to drive all the way to Kendal so I went straight to a mate’s house in Kirkby Abbey. He lives with his parents but he’d told me they were away for Christmas.’

‘We need his name and address,’ James said.

‘His name is Craig Lawrence and he lives on Tindell Street. Number five.’

‘And what happened when you got there?’

‘I told him I’d been kicked out by Charlotte and that I didn’t want to risk driving home because I’d already been involved in a shunt. He said I could stay. That was when I saw the text message from Charlotte telling me that it was all over between us. I showed it to Craig and he just said that I was better off without her.’

‘And you didn’t return to the farm that evening?’