‘I’d tried to phone him that Sunday, once the hangover was clear,’ Olivia began. ‘It took a few hours, but he did call back. He admitted he’d been avoiding me and said he was sorry. There’d been a cash flow problem, but he was about to settle all of his debts, and mine was top of the list.’

Like most things Tara had heard lately, her first response was to challenge. ‘Did you believe him?’

‘Not then, I suppose, but the money appeared in my account the next day.’

‘He wasn’t broke?’ Tara asked.

‘Not unless it was your friend who bailed him out.’

Tara shook her head. ‘No, Faith wouldn’t have done that.’

‘Shouldn’t you be telling this to the police?’ asked Justine.

‘I already have,’ Olivia replied. ‘I spent yesterday at the station, telling them what I’m telling you. Nick had money, and by all accounts, business was booming. My brother would never threaten a woman, for any reason, and especially not her. He spent half of our last conversation telling me how amazing she was and how much I’d like her.’

With a hand curled around her glass, Tara stared at her fingers through the water. How could something so transparent give such a warped view? ‘I understand why you would want to believe what Nick told you, but the fact remains he forced Faith to transfer money to him, the police have evidence.’

‘I don’t know why Nick would do that,’ Olivia said as a fresh wave of anguish twisted her features. ‘I can’t believe it. Maybe if I’d warned him about speaking to you he would have had time to think things through before Faith challenged him, but I didn’t know who you were or if you’d tell her. And I was ashamed of what I’d said. Deep down, Nick was a good man.’

‘Only if you ignore some serious character flaws,’ said Tara as kindly as she could. ‘What about the fraud at his old firm?’ Looking directly at Josh, she added, ‘He was callous enough to take money raised in Erin’s memory.’

‘That’s not true!’ Olivia said, raising her voice. ‘I asked him about it and he admitted he’d been sacked, but he swore he didn’t take a penny for himself, and was never going to. It was a vicious rumour. He wouldn’t dishonour Erin like that. He loved her more than life itself and she died loving him too.’ She took a couple of sharp gasps to contain her tears. ‘Oh, God, this is killing me.’

Before Tara could respond, Josh rose quickly to his feet. ‘Sorry, I need some air,’ he said.