‘We’ll let him stew overnight and have another go at him tomorrow,’ James said. ‘Meanwhile, let’s continue going through traffic camera footage to pin down exactly when he left the hotel and drove home.’

Glancing at the big clock on the wall, James saw that it was half five already. Another working day was coming to an end and it appeared the case was still a long way from being solved. He said as much to the team and urged them to try to pick up the pace.

‘Where are we with the warrants?’ he asked.

‘Just got word that they’ve been signed off, sir,’ DC Isaac informed him. ‘The paperwork is being sent across.’

‘Excellent. DC Hall, do you have an update on the hotel surveillance footage?’

‘I’ve gone back over it and can confirm that Libby Murphy did join her husband and Mark Slade at the bar after her encounter with her sister in the garden. They stayed there for about fifteen minutes before all three moved away and out of shot. Mr and Mrs Murphy then took their places at the top table for the wedding breakfast at about ten minutes past six. But Slade didn’t join them for another twenty minutes.’

‘Which means he could have been up to no good down on the jetty,’ James said.

Isaac nodded before continuing. ‘As you know, the surveillance camera on the terrace was malfunctioning so we don’t know if Ethan Prescott joined his mother there after he left the garden. And we don’t know exactly what time he and his mum took their seats in the main hall because their table was one of quite a few that were situated in camera blind spots.’

‘This clearly means that all our suspects are still in play,’ James said. ‘And now we’re in a position to execute the warrants we can see if there’s anything to be found in the homes of Douglas Hannigan and Ethan Prescott. In the meantime, can you report back, Jessica, on what, if anything, the techies find on Prescott’s phone and laptop? I also want us to have another word with Mark Slade. Ruffle his feathers and see if anything comes of it. But at the same time we need to ensure that Belinda isn’t subjected to any form of harassment from him or Murphy.

‘As for Douglas Hannigan, Phil and I will go and see him after this meeting and put him on the spot over his alleged threat to pay someone to harm Rachel. Have we managed to get any more info on him?’

‘We’re still working on it, sir,’ Isaac said. ‘Apart from the drugs scandal he’s never been brought to our attention.’

James went on to assign various jobs to individual detectives. He then told Abbott to brief the nightshift before she left the office.

‘Tomorrow will be another full-on day,’ he said to the team. ‘So, don’t hang around unless you really have to. Go home, get some well-earned rest, and come back in the morning fully charged.’