James then pointed to a photograph of Erika Chan. ‘This woman is the hotel’s wedding coordinator, and also happens to be Hannigan’s live-in girlfriend. Rachel approached her on the day of the wedding and told her to tell Hannigan that she’d go to the police if he threatened her again. Miss Chan insists she did not come into contact with Rachel after that conversation and denies killing her, but it’s possible she’s lying and they did meet up again on the jetty. I therefore want a full background check carried out on Miss Chan. Let’s see what turns up.

‘DC Hall, was Chan with Rachel in any of the surveillance footage or guest photos?’ James asked.

‘I spotted her several times in the footage but she was always alone and in the background,’ Hall answered.

James passed the verbal baton to DC Abbott who explained why best man Mark Slade was also on their list of suspects.

‘Mr Slade denies Miss Travers’s claim of harassment,’ she concluded, ‘but we need to take into account his history of violence against women, which I’ve detailed in the notes that I’ve circulated. We also need to consider the possibility that Slade went looking for someone else to have a go at and found Rachel alone by the lake. One thing to note is that Slade and Greg Murphy are best buddies and Murphy has already made an effort to discredit Miss Travers’s story.’

James thanked DC Abbott and then drew the team’s attention to yet another photo on the whiteboard.

‘Ethan Prescott,’ he said. ‘This man is the son of Claire Prescott, who used to be nanny to the Elliott sisters. He’s a contender because he dated both women. First, he had a relationship with Rachel, but then he left her and moved on to Libby, which caused understandable friction between the sisters. He and Libby were together for about six months and it was after they split up that she met Greg Murphy.

‘We have an eyewitness who saw Prescott and Libby confront Rachel on the garden path during the reception, just before she must have ventured down to the jetty. Libby notably didn’t mention this encounter when we first interviewed her and then later, when asked about it, said she’d simply forgot.’

‘But what motive would Ethan Prescott have had for killing Rachel?’ DS Stevens asked.

‘That’s a good question,’ James answered. ‘Though he doesn’t appear to have had one, it could be that he followed her to the jetty and they got into an argument. Maybe he went there to have a moan about her drinking and it turned violent, or perhaps he tried it on with her. At this point we need to consider all possibilities.’

‘He’s never appeared on our radar before and he doesn’t have a police record,’ DC Isaac offered. ‘He lives with his mother in Windermere and runs a gift shop there. Enquiries have turned up one interesting fact though: the man’s got himself into serious debt. He’s behind on rent payments for the shop and is struggling to pay back a bank loan he took out to set the business up. His problems are mainly due to the fact that he overstretched himself in order to get started and then trade was slow during his first year.’