‘Then perhaps I should have another word with her,’ James said. ‘Do you know where I can find her?’

‘She brought me a coffee about fifteen minutes ago and said she was going into the garden to get some fresh air.’

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

James went first to the lounge to pass on to Abbott what Karen Cornwall had told him. She was deep in conversation with Sergeant Dale Thomas and they were the only people in there.

‘I want to look around the grounds so I’ll seek out Erika Chan while I’m at it,’ he said. Turning to Thomas, he added, ‘How’s it going?’

‘As I was just saying to DC Abbott, sir, there’s not much more for us to do here,’ he replied. ‘All those staff who were on duty during the wedding have gone home and I don’t believe there’s any more forensic evidence to be found.’

‘Then I don’t see why we shouldn’t scale the operation back still further,’ James said. ‘But I want us to maintain a minimal presence here for at least another day or two. Just a couple of officers who can act as a point of contact between us and the management.’

‘I’ll get onto it,’ Thomas said.

James left Abbott with him and ventured out into the deserted garden. He could feel the pinch of cold through his coat as he strolled across the snow-blanketed lawn towards the lake. The sky was a flawless blue now and a light breeze stirred the branches of the trees around him.

He’d had every intention of returning to the scene of the crime at some point to refresh his memory of the location. And there was always the possibility that he’d spot something he hadn’t noticed before, something that would offer up a new clue as to what happened on New Year’s Eve.

He looked around for Erika Chan but she was nowhere in sight and he suspected she might have already returned to the hotel.

He paused to look at the path where Rachel was last seen and wondered which of the bushes Libby and Prescott had been standing behind when she spotted them. Then he glanced across at the rear gate that led to the overflow car park where Carlo Salvi must have parked his car.

As he carried on walking, the jetty came into view and he was reminded of that awful moment when Rachel’s body was pulled out of the water. Cordon tape was still stretched across the end of the jetty and a sign had been placed there warning people not to step over it.

He was about to turn around and go back to the hotel when he spotted a lone figure standing on the shoreline to the left of the jetty, staring out across the lake.

It was Erika Chan. He knew because she was wearing the same camel-hair coat she’d had on when she arrived at Hannigan’s house the day before.

James walked over to her and she snapped her head towards him when she heard his shoes crunching on the stones.