‘That’s right. The three of you may have drifted apart over the decades since then, but back when you were teenagers, you were one of the best rowing teams your school had ever produced. As a coxed pair, I now know. Which is one cox, who was Andy. The youngster with guile and cunning to navigate the route. And two much older, taller and stronger lads in you and Elliot to do the rowing. I imagine you cleaned up at all of the regattas.’

‘This is guesswork.’

‘Not at all. I went to Elliot’s office once I’d worked out that rowing was the connection. And guess what? He’d removed a rowing team photo from the wall since the last time I’d been there. He has rather a habit of removing framed pictures from the walls, now I think about it. But that was all the confirmation I needed to know I was on the right track. And the fact that his wife was so angry with me. I think, a bit like your wife, Daisy has had her suspicions about Elliot for some time, and it’s similarly been driving her mad.

‘Anyway, the missing photo proved to me that there was something incriminating about a rowing team from Elliot’s past. So who else was in that photo? Sadly, records back then haven’t much survived to the modern day. But you know what it’s like when you solve part of a crossword clue? The rest of it so often falls into place. I tried to think who else Elliot could have rowed with. Initially I wondered if it was Stefan, but as I’ve already said, Stefan is on record saying he hated rowing. And that’s when I remembered Becks telling me that you and Liz had met as young rowers. You were the third person from Elliot’s boat I was looking for.’

Judith could see that Danny was clenching and unclenching his jaw.

‘No? Not going to say anything? I suppose not. But now I could start to make sense of the deaths. Because, as you said, you, Elliot and Andy don’t have much to do with each other. But you last rowed together in Elliot’s final year at school which was 1980. Forty years ago exactly, so a perfect excuse for a school reunion.

‘Which is why Liz had a diary entry saying “rowing dinner” for Monday the fifth of August. But it wasn’t her rowing dinner she was marking. She’d merely put “rowing dinner” in her diary because, as a good wife, she was making a note of when you’d be at your important dinner so she didn’t double book anything for that night.