‘No thanks,’ Becks said, who was startled that someone would offer her a sweet. Did she look like someone who ate sweets?

Judith put a sweet into her mouth and sucked on it while she considered her options.

‘Then I suppose we’ve no choice,’ she said, snapping the lid closed and putting the tin back into her handbag. ‘We’ll have to get the police involved.’

‘You think the police will need to look?’

‘It’s inevitable, I’m afraid. Once I tell them about Elliot, there’ll be police with search warrants crawling all over this place. I imagine it will cause quite the scandal, and the press will follow, you know what they’re like. There’ll be paparazzi hiding in your shrubbery and publishing unflattering photos of you taking out the bins.’

Becks was waking up the computer before Judith had even finished speaking.

‘No, you’re right. We should have a look for ourselves so the police don’t need to get involved.’

Judith smiled warmly.

‘Now that’s an excellent idea.’

Becks began clicking various icons on the monitor and opened up a window that showed a live black-and-white feed of the main body of the church, including the choir stalls.

Becks double-clicked a video file and another window opened, looking exactly the same as the live feed, but Judith could see it was dated the day before. She then watched as Becks dragged the slider on the window until the time stamp read 7 p.m. As she did so, the choir stalls started filling up with an assortment of boys in the front pews and twenty or so men and women in the others.

It was possible to see that Elliot Howard was standing in the back row.

‘I don’t believe it,’ Becks said in horror.

‘What is it?’ Judith asked, excitement blooming as she wondered if this was the moment she was about to discover that Elliot Howard was the killer.

‘Am I really that fat?’ Becks said, pointing at the recording of herself as she chatted to friends.

‘You’re not fat.’

‘I am if that’s how I look.’

‘Believe me, you’ve nothing to worry about,’ Judith said.

‘That’s it, I’m going to cut all dairy out of my diet.’

Judith struggled to be sympathetic. Why couldn’t people be happy with who they were? But there was no point arguing with a woman like Becks, she was too far gone. Instead, Judith peered at the monitor.

‘That’s Elliot there, isn’t it?’

Becks refocused on the screen.

‘That’s him. And if I fast-forward, let’s see if he leaves.’