‘When Angela McCabe died, her husband was the financial beneficiary,’ Gibbs told him. ‘With Joshua Norbury, it was his sister, Lisa. In the absence of other suspects, motives, leads, we looked at Russell McCabe and Lisa Norbury very carefully. We eliminated them both – neither could have committed the murders. I hope you can appreciate that we need to go through the same formalities with you.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Eliminate you, as the sole beneficiary of Marion’s estate,’ said Gibbs.

‘What about the other two? Billy’s killed five people.’

‘Linzi Birrell and Rhian Douglas had nothing to leave, so no motive there. Is there a reason why you’re unwilling to tell me where you were on those days, Mr Hopwood?’

‘Not at all. I just find it unbelievable that you’d suspect me. I loved Gran like a second mum.’

‘Yes, you’ve said.’

‘When I heard she’d been … I can’t even say it!’ He covered his mouth with a clenched fist. ‘I wouldn’t have killed her for three million, let alone for three hundred thousand. This is all … I’m sorry, but it’s absurd for you to think it.’

‘If you’d worked for the police for nearly twenty years and seen as much profit-motivated crime as I have, you wouldn’t find it absurd. So, where were you on the dates I keep asking about? I know you were at the RGI the day Marion was murdered.’

‘Working, I guess.’

‘You guess? I was hoping you’d be able to offer me something more solid than a guess, Mr Hopwood. You knew you’d be asked to account for your whereabouts, didn’t you? I told you when we spoke on the phone.’

Hopwood’s sigh suggested a good man whose generous nature was being shamelessly exploited. ‘Look, what am I supposed to do? I work alone a lot of the time. The first four murders all took place on weekdays and I wasn’t on holiday, so I was definitely working. But … I’d only be able to prove where I was if I’d had meetings on those days, and I’m afraid I didn’t.’

Gibbs was looking at his notes on Hopwood, which told a different story. ‘It says here you work for a company called Struthers Breary. Just you, is it? No colleagues? Don’t bother answering. I happen to know that firm’s owned by a husband and wife team, Gaby and Tim Breary. I know them personally, and I’m a hundred per cent certain they don’t only employ you.’