‘Once Savage had walked out, he could have decided for whatever reason to go into the house and cause carnage,’ James said. ‘And then left another bunch of bloody shoeprints in his wake, this time in the blood of his victims.’

‘Let’s pick this up after I’ve spoken to Craig Lawrence,’ Tanner said. ‘We can’t yet rule out the possibility that the guy is prepared to cover for his mate or even that they went back to the farm together while off their heads on drugs. And we’ll need to search Lawrence’s house.’

James got DS Stevens to go back into the interview room with him after fifteen minutes.

Savage had calmed by then and was hunched over a mug that was half filled with coffee.

James introduced Stevens and explained that DCI Tanner was interviewing Lawrence.

‘I now intend to ask some more questions about the Bateman family,’ he said. ‘And I’ll start with Charlotte. Was what she did on Christmas Eve out of character?’

‘She did have a problem controlling her temper but it was over the top, even for her,’ Savage said. ‘She hit me over the head once with a frying pan during an argument and I needed a couple of stitches. Another time she punched a girl in the face at a party because she saw her flirting with me.’

‘Sounds like she had anger management issues,’ James said.

Savage nodded. ‘That’s what her mum used to say to her. Most of the time she was okay, though.’

‘This problem she had with her mum. Did it go back years?’

‘I think so. She never had a good word to say about her. But then something happened recently that made things even worse.’

‘What was it?’

‘She told me she’d found out that Mary had been unfaithful to Robert. She wouldn’t tell me how she knew and she wouldn’t say when it was or who it was with. And she made me promise not to tell anyone. But it really upset her.’

‘Did she confront her mum about it?’

‘She decided not to for Robert’s sake. She didn’t want to give him something else to worry about on top of his money problems.’

For James it was another nugget of information to add to the intrigue surrounding the case. Mary Bateman had been having an affair behind her husband’s back? And if so, could it have had something to do with what happened on Christmas Eve?

‘We know that the farm was running at a loss and they were being forced to sell it,’ James said. ‘What impact was it having on the family?’