‘Take your time, Mr Millar,’ Jazz nodded. She was far more used to interrogating a suspect with a view to obtaining a confession, rather than hearing the details of a crime retrospectively.

‘Well, I knew my son Rory was being bullied by this boy at school, Charlie Cavendish.’

‘And who had told you this?’

‘Well, Rory, of course.’

‘Had anyone else mentioned the situation to you? For example, Sebastian Frederiks, Rory’s housemaster?’

‘He certainly alluded to the fact Rory was unhappy. Apparently, Rory got locked in the cellar overnight by this Charlie.’

‘Really? Mr Frederiks told you it was Charlie, did he?’

‘No. Rory told me.’

‘I see. How could Rory have known for sure, Mr Millar? He was on the other side of the door at the time.’

‘Look, Rory told me this Cavendish boy was making his life hell. That was all I needed to know. Okay, Inspector?’

‘So, when did Rory confess to you that Charlie was bullying him?’

‘I can’t remember exactly, to be honest. Probably the day before I . . . killed Charlie.’

‘Thursday the fourteenth of January,’ Jazz said into the recorder. ‘And this was on the school payphone?’

‘Yes. And after his call, I got very drunk, to be honest. The next day, I tried to speak to Mr Frederiks, and the head, but no one would answer my calls. So I got in the car and drove to the school. I had to speak to someone. I didn’t want another night going by with Rory being at risk.’

‘What time was that?’

‘Not sure.’ David shook his head. ‘But it was the evening.’

‘So, when you drove to the school, was it with the intention of murdering Charlie Cavendish?’

‘I was certainly mad enough to kill him, Inspector, but to be honest, I didn’t have any fixed plan in my mind. When I got to Fleat, I was told by Mr Daneman that Sebastian Frederiks was out. And I couldn’t see Rory because he was in a choir concert in chapel.’

‘Can you try and remember what time you arrived at the school, Mr Millar? Approximately?’

‘Around half past seven?’ David shrugged. ‘I remember the car park was packed and there were a lot of people heading towards the chapel.’

‘Right, so, what did you do then?’

‘Mr Daneman suggested I come back another time, but then he got caught up with a telephone call so . . .’ David scratched his head. ‘I decided to try and find this Cavendish fellow myself and give him a piece of my mind.’

‘And did you see him?’

‘No, I didn’t. I went upstairs to the sixth-form corridor and found his room, but he wasn’t there.’

‘So what did you do next?’

‘I hung around for a bit to see if Charlie might come back, but he didn’t.’

‘Mr Millar, did anyone else see you whilst you were in Fleat House? Either arriving or whilst you were searching for Charlie’s room?’ Jazz asked.