Gemma mentally agreed with her at the unlikeliness. ‘I don’t know anything about boats, but would there be any other reason for someone to do that? Could it have been one of the neighbours?’

‘I suppose so,’ Meredith said, tracing a line on the tabletop with the side of her thumbnail. ‘They do sometimes jump from boat to boat. There was no-one out there when we went and looked. But it gave me a fright. Also…’

‘Yes?’

‘This does sound stupid, but when I went over there, Andrea had been doing a jigsaw on a table out on deck; she used to do them all the time. This one was almost done, everything except some cherry blossom on a tree – but there was one bit missing. We talked about it – Andrea was freaked out because the missing bit was a baby, in a pram. I remember she said she thought it was an omen…’

Gemma willed Mavis not to let his expression show what he doubtless thought of that. He thought that anything involving superstition or religion – the two were interchangeable as far as he was concerned – was for morons and sheep.

‘I know it sounds mad; it’s so easy to lose a jigsaw piece,’ Meredith ploughed on. ‘Like I said, it could be nothing. But then seeing that foot outside, it felt so creepy, after the stuff that had been going on even before all this.’

‘We’ll check to see if there’s any CCTV on the wharf,’ Mavis said, making a note. ‘And of course we’re talking to all the residents. We’ll ask if anyone saw anything that day.’

‘There’s no CCTV,’ said Meredith. ‘The council won’t put it in, so Pete’s been organising everyone to chip in for it themselves, because there’s been some petty vandalism. It’s due to be installed next month.’ She hesitated. ‘Could you tell me … What about Ralph? Do you have any idea how he ended up in that pond yet?’

Gemma cleared her throat. ‘Nothing’s shown up on CCTV. But at least now we know where he died. Forensics are working on the ice house and surrounding area.’

Meredith looked as though she had suddenly aged ten years.

‘DC McMeekin has explained what you told her earlier. Why on earth did you not let us know all this in your first statement?’ Mavis asked, in a tone of detached curiosity, as if he was Meredith’s therapist, Gemma thought, feeling faintly irritated. ‘For the benefit of the tape,’ he added, ‘this is the information that Ms Vincent was the last person to see Ralph Allerton alive. They had sexual intercourse in the ice house, she left, but forgot her keys, and when she returned for them, he was lying dead on the floor. Is that correct?’