‘If you’re finding it that difficult,’ Rachel said, ‘you could try taking out an injunction against them. Although I’m not sure what grounds you’d have for it, quite frankly.’

‘Which is why I need your help,’ Jake said. ‘If you refuse to take action, I’ll have no choice but to go above your head and speak to your superiors. I’m sure they won’t be happy when I tell them how unhelpful you’ve been.’

‘Well good luck with that,’ Rachel said, hanging up before he could say anything else.

‘What the hell was that?’ Ade asked.

‘A drunk Jake Harris asked me to tell the naughty tabloid journalists to stop harassing his precious client.’

‘He really thinks you can control the press?’ Ade grinned. ‘The man must be very drunk indeed.’

Rachel knew she should be able to smile it off too. But the truth was, the phone call had shaken her. What sort of impression did she give if people like Jake Harris thought it was acceptable to phone her up and issue orders? She was pretty sure he’d never try that trick on Ed, if he was still here. And definitely not on Sharon.

‘He’s a knob,’ Ade said. ‘You do know that, right?’

‘Yeah.’ Rachel put her phone back in her jacket pocket. ‘I know.’

It was part and parcel of the job. People thinking they could call you any time of the day or night with outlandish requests that they expected you to respond to immediately. Most of the time, she was able to see the funny side. But right now she was so tired, fed up leading an investigation that was going absolutely nowhere, she wasn’t able to do that.

The door to the interview room opened and the solicitor’s head peered out.

‘We’re ready,’ he said.

Rachel straightened her shoulders, pushed down her feelings of frustration and inadequacy and nodded.

‘Good. Let’s get this over and done with.’

‘Simon has something he’d like to tell you,’ the solicitor said, once Rachel and Ade had sat back down and Rachel had re-started the recording.

‘Nick lent me the money for a deposit on the house,’ Simon said. ‘But that’s the only transaction on those bank statements that was a loan. All the rest were gifts.’

‘Even this payment?’ Ade pointed a purple painted fingernail at a payment of fifteen thousand pounds from nine months ago.

‘He paid for our wedding,’ Simon said. ‘He could be generous when the mood took him. Which is why, when he gave me the money for the house, I assumed he was joking when he said it was only a loan.’

‘Is that the payment for ten thousand pounds?’ Ade asked.

‘That’s right.’

‘A lot of money for a gift,’ Rachel said. ‘Especially when he’d already given you quite a lot already.’