‘What about his relationship with Tara?’ Rachel asked, keen to move the interview along. They had Bella on record telling them she’d killed Nick. Now, they needed to get her admitting to Tara’s murder as well. Once they had that, they’d have all the evidence they needed to prepare their case for the CPS.

‘Tara was a user,’ Bella said. ‘She was only with Nick because he was rich and famous. If he’d been a nobody, she wouldn’t have been seen dead with him.’

‘Can you tell us what happened the day she died?’ Ade said.

‘She called Simon,’ Bella said. ‘Left a message telling him she knew who’d killed Nick and she was going to tell the police. It was all a bluff, but when he called me to tell me what she’d said I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

‘I’ve got a key to a door at the back of the building at work. I’ve had it for years, ever since I had to go in late one night. No one knows I still have it. I don’t even know why I’ve kept it, except I’ve always liked the idea of being able to get in and out of the building without anyone knowing about it. The whole security at work’s a bit Big Brother, you know?’

‘So you drove to London?’ Ade said.

‘I only wanted to talk to her. Make sure she didn’t actually know anything. She was drunk when I arrived. Staggering about the place and throwing accusations around. One minute she was accusing Adam of killing Nick, the next she was blaming Simon. Then she started on about Clodagh, and she said she had something important to tell me. Nick had told her about Gary and Clodagh a few weeks earlier. He’d sworn her to secrecy, but now he was dead she felt I ought to know. Well, I could hardly let her live after that.’

‘Why not?’ Rachel asked.

‘Because I didn’t want anyone to know, and Tara was a blabbermouth. There was no way she’d keep something like that to herself.’

‘So you killed her,’ Rachel said.

‘I didn’t have a choice.’

‘How did you do it?’ Ade asked.

Bella’s solicitor started to speak, warning her not to say anything else, but she silenced him.

‘She had a rack of knives in her kitchen,’ she said. ‘I took the biggest one before sitting beside her on the sofa. And then I just stuck it into her. It wasn’t difficult. Strange, really, to think that killing someone could be that easy.’

‘She was stabbed twice,’ Ade said.

‘Really?’ Bella looked surprised. ‘Maybe I stabbed her again. I really can’t remember. Either way, it wasn’t planned. She didn’t give me any choice.’