‘Did that not strike you as odd?’

‘Not really. It was up to her to tell whoever she wanted to.’

‘Fair enough. Now, my next question is this, Mr Salvi: did Rachel know you were seeing other women at the same time as her?’

His eyes seemed to go out of focus for a second and he had to pause to gulp in air before answering.

‘There was no need for her to know,’ he said. ‘She never asked me if she was my only female friend so I didn’t tell her that she wasn’t.’

Abbott couldn’t resist responding to that one. ‘But if you loved her then surely you should have been faithful to her?’ she said.

‘But I did not love her and I never told her that I did,’ he replied. ‘I liked her a lot – more than any of the other women – but it wasn’t love.’

James pitched in at this point with, ‘But were you not aware that she was planning to introduce you as her boyfriend at her sister’s wedding and also announce that she was moving to Italy with you? Presumably that was why she invited you.’

He shook his head. ‘Moving with me? No, we hadn’t discussed that. She invited me because she didn’t want to go by herself and she sold me on the idea of spending one of our few remaining nights together in a grand hotel where we could eat and drink as much as we wanted.’

As James was processing this last answer, Abbott asked Salvi what time he had arrived at the hotel and whether he drove there in his car.

‘I drove and I arrived just before the marriage ceremony began at three o’clock,’ he said.

‘And where did you park?’

‘Around the back of the hotel, in a field. The front car park was full.’

James picked up on this. ‘When we searched Rachel’s room there was nothing belonging to you in there. And yet when you were seen leaving the room you weren’t carrying anything. Why was that?’

‘I left my rucksack and change of clothes in the car because there was no time to take them to the room before the ceremony,’ he answered. ‘I was going to get them later.’

‘Okay, now talk us through what happened after you arrived,’ James said.

‘I met up with Rachel. She was excited and got me a drink. She looked beautiful in her dress and I told her so. Then I sat down and watched her sister get married. Afterwards, I got myself another drink while Rachel had her photograph taken. Nobody spoke to me but I was quite happy with that because I didn’t know anyone there. When the photographer was finished taking pictures, Rachel asked me to go with her to see the room.’

‘And what happened when you got there?’

Salvi paused before answering. ‘We talked about stuff and—’

‘Let me step in there, Mr Salvi,’ James interrupted. ‘We have reason to believe that you had an argument in the room. Can you confirm that?’