Clearly hoping for business, the woman’s face falls.

‘DS May – Chichester Police. I’m investigating the death of Mrs Hampton’s stepdaughter. I don’t suppose you know where she is?’

She shakes her head. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t. Her hours have been a bit erratic lately. Hardly surprising given what’s happened … Can I help in any way?’

I pause for a moment. ‘How well do you know Mrs Hampton?’

‘Only on a business level. I used to refer brides to her, to get their hair done.’ A shadow crosses the woman’s face. ‘I don’t like saying this, but I think I’m going to be a bit careful now. One of her suppliers came in chasing her for an unpaid bill the other day. I don’t want to refer my brides to her if her business is shaky.’

It sounds as though Stephanie’s in a downward spiral – when a business isn’t doing well, word gets around and customers stay away, making it worse – and of course the situation won’t have been helped by Hollie’s death.

*

Back at the office, I go over everything we know for the umpteenth time, then check in with Sarah Collins to see if they’ve got any further with Operation Rainbow.

‘We have the lead we’ve been waiting for – I hope.’ Sarah sounds relieved. ‘There was a call earlier today from a woman. Apparently her partner had been boasting about a business opportunity that was going to make him a lot of money. He then showed her the adult website he was planning on investing in – he justified it by saying it was the kind of thing that was everywhere. She was horrified, but while he was in the shower, she had another look. This time, she found images of children. She was quite smart, actually. Instead of confronting him, she pretended to go along with the idea and quizzed him about the investment. He told her he’d met someone in a pub in Abingworth – a man who lived around there, apparently, though he didn’t say where exactly, and of course, it could have been a front. But it seems to fit too well to be a coincidence.’

‘We need to speak to him.’

‘There’s a problem with that.’ Sarah pauses. ‘He runs a delivery service and he’s away on a job for a couple of days. His partner doesn’t know exactly where he is.’

‘Get the vehicle registration of the van. Or trace him by his phone.’

‘We’re already doing it. As soon as we locate him, we’ll bring him in.’

Chapter Twenty-One

Elise

Assuming Stephanie will have kept her word and spoken to the police after the funeral, I leave it a couple of days before I go to see her. It’s early afternoon when I get to her salon and she looks on edge when I walk in.