‘Wait until you see the rest of it,’ Rachel said. ‘There’s a stunning roof garden and direct access to the villa’s own private section of the beach. Which is where we’re going now because that’s where the body is.’

Together, the two women walked around to the back of the villa, past the hot tub and the tear-shaped swimming pool, following the path that led onto the beach.

‘How do you know so much about this place?’ Ade said.

‘I’ve stayed here with Grace,’ Rachel said.

‘See, that right there is why lesbians have it better than straight people,’ Ade said. ‘I’ve never once dated a guy who would take me somewhere this fancy.’

‘You’re dating the wrong sort of guys, then.’

‘Nah. The only guy who ever thinks of coming to a place like this is when he’s nagged into doing it by his wife or girlfriend. I bet you didn’t have to nag Grace to take you here, did you?’

‘Actually,’ Rachel said, ‘she did take a bit of persuading. Even now, she still talks about that weekend as if it was a luxury we couldn’t really afford.’

‘Was she right?’

‘Probably. But what’s the point of working as hard as we do if we can’t treat ourselves from time to time?’

Without waiting for a reply, she pushed open the gate to the beach. Black and yellow police tape cordoned off an area around the same size as the hotel garden. A team of crime scene investigators, dressed head to toe in white and wearing purple disposable gloves, were methodically scouring the beach for anything that might help identify how the victim had died.

On any other day, this would have been a glorious place to be. Sunlight reflected off a flat, still sea. Waves of heat rose off the white shingle, blurring the yellow ferry that was pulling out of Newhaven harbour two miles further along the coast. Rachel knew if she looked in the other direction, she’d see the white cliffs of Seaford Head. But she wasn’t here for the view.

She pulled a pair of plastic shoe covers out of her bag and put them on, waiting while Ade did the same thing.

‘There’s Brian,’ Rachel said, nodding at Brian Higgins, the uniformed sergeant who’d responded to the call about the body. Rachel knew that Brian and two uniformed officers had already been here for several hours. It would have been Brian who made the decision to pass this particular case on to CID, assigning one of his officers to start a log book, logging all attendees at the scene and their reason for being there.

‘Morning, Rachel and Ade,’ Brian said, crossing the beach to greet them.

‘What have you got for me, Brian?’ Rachel asked.