‘But surely he’d have stayed quiet. And I can well imagine a local solicitor having contacts in the police. Or he would know someone who does. I bet there’s actually quite a lot of people in Marlow who’ve heard that Stefan was shot dead. He was showing off, as you say.’

‘But with an antique pistol?’ Suzie asked. ‘How did he hear about that?’

‘And I spent over an hour with him,’ Becks said. ‘He may pretend to be all smooth and sophisticated, but he’s the killer. I’m sure of it. We already know he’s connected to Iqbal’s murder, or he wouldn’t have been shredding that paper straight after you saw him in his office.’

‘That’s true,’ Suzie agreed.

‘It’s like we said. The most obvious reason he’d know that Stefan had been shot with an antique pistol was because he was the one who shot him. So all we need to do is link him to Liz’s murder and then we can say we’ve finally found someone with clear links to all three murders.’

Judith sipped on her whisky thoughtfully.

‘It’s so frustrating,’ she said. ‘According to Tanika, Liz Curtis was last seen alive at nine this morning by a gaggle of scouts. Their scoutmaster then found her body shortly after ten o’clock. If we knew what Andy was doing between nine and ten, maybe we’d be able to work out if he’s the killer. Although,’ Judith added, brightening, ‘that’s exactly what we can do, isn’t it? Suzie, get up that photo you took of Andy Bishop’s diary.’

‘Sure,’ Suzie said and pulled out her mobile phone. A few swipes later, and she was able to show the other women the photo she’d taken of Andy’s diary. While there were plenty of office meetings across each day, not one of them started before 9.30 a.m.

‘Well, thanks to Suzie’s quick thinking earlier today,’ Judith said, ‘we now know that Andy Bishop is never in his office before 9.30 a.m.’

‘You’re right,’ Suzie said, thrilled. ‘I did that, didn’t I?’

‘You did,’ Judith agreed. ‘Well done. Although it would be tight, wouldn’t it? Andy would have to wait in the shadows at the rowing centre with the gun. Let the scouts go out on their canoes, and then shoot Liz dead pretty sharpish before turning up for work at nine thirty.’

‘But it would have been do-able,’ Becks said.

‘And he’d have had to have known that her husband Danny would be away,’ Judith added.

‘He was away?’ Becks asked.

Judith explained how she’d overheard part of Tanika’s interview with Danny, and that he’d been in Nottingham since the day before.