‘It wasn’t great. I hoped Gabe’d change his mind about coming with me that night, but … we were trying to save our marriage at the time. Well, Gabe was trying. I’m not sure what I was doing. Gabe’s got a drug … issue. I call it a problem, he doesn’t. He’s a committed weed-head. I’d been telling him for years that I’d leave if he didn’t give it up, and he’d tried to wriggle out of it a million different ways. His latest line was, “Well, you’re away all the time on tour – what am I supposed to do when I’m bored and lonely?” So I said, “Okay then, come on the road with me.” I didn’t really want him there, moaning about having to watch the same set over and over, but if the only way to stop him smoking that crap was not letting him out of my sight …’ I sigh. ‘It didn’t work. Nothing worked apart from leaving him. Now I don’t give a shit how much he smokes. It’s his problem. Non-problem, I should say, since it’s now his alone to define.’

Charlie’s signalling to come off the motorway.

‘Where are we going?’

‘I’m stopping to ring Simon. He needs to know this. Liam didn’t mind coming along to an event where you were with your husband?’

‘God, no. Liam knew he was getting laid that night, knew Gabe was going home after the gig. That was all he cared about.’

‘I bet he was pleased to be the chosen one,’ Charlie says.

‘I wouldn’t count on it. I’m not sure Liam’s ever happy, sad, angry, guilty. He doesn’t show any emotion at all. I called him the sex robot.’

Charlie smiles as we pull into the car park of a disused Little Chef with boarded-up windows and part of its sign missing.

She says a quick hello to Simon when he picks up, then passes her phone to me. ‘Tell him exactly what you’ve just told me.’

I assume she doesn’t want me to include the sex robot part, so I stick to the facts.

‘You’re saying Liam Sturridge was with you the night you were given a white book by a man you didn’t recognise?’ Simon asks.

‘Yes.’

‘The night you told Gibbs about – the room you described, but didn’t remember where it was. You’re saying that as well as your husband, Liam Sturridge, your … boyfriend at the time, was in that room?’

Haven’t I just answered that question? ‘That’s right.’

‘Your husband went home after the gig, correct?’

‘Yes. I’ve already told you that.’

‘I’m asking again. Your story’s changed, so I need to start from scratch.’

‘No, you don’t. Everything I told you before still stands. Just make one addition: Liam Sturridge, there that night.’