‘And you’ve guessed right,’ James said. ‘But I’m sure you’re going to deny that you were stalking Rachel and say that you didn’t threaten to pay someone to hurt her.’

He shook his head and James could see the tension rise in his body.

‘On the contrary, Inspector. I’ve thought long and hard about this and it’s time I owned up to being a complete dickhead. I did say that to Rachel when she phoned me. Neither she nor anyone else realised just how upset I was that she fucked up my bid to become an MP. I wanted to get my revenge and so I sent her the card with the threat. And yes, I followed her and took photos in the hope that I could catch her doing something that I could use to humiliate her, just as she’d humiliated me.

‘When I discovered she was seeing some bloke who worked at the university I thought I was onto something but then came the wedding and her murder. It made me feel ashamed of myself.’

‘Did you pay someone to go to the hotel and teach her a lesson?’

Another shake of the head, and this time when he spoke his voice shook with emotion.

‘I swear I did nothing of the kind. It was an empty threat and you need to believe that. And you won’t find any evidence to prove that I’m lying because there isn’t any. I’ll happily confess to being a nasty, vengeful prick, but I’m not a murderer.’

‘You should know that we’ve obtained a warrant to search your house and gain access to your phone and computer,’ James said.

‘That’s fine by me, Inspector. It’s time I faced up to the consequences of my actions. Erika has told me it’s over between us and I don’t blame her. I swore to her that I’d stopped taking drugs and I lied. Even my own parents now know what a poor excuse for a human being I am.’

Hannigan was now sobbing as the words rasped out of his throat. James threw a few more questions at him, but his answers became incomprehensible and a doctor was summoned to come and check on him.

‘We’ll leave it at that for now, Mr Hannigan,’ James said. ‘But I’m sure we’ll need to speak to you again soon.’

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

The morning briefing got under way soon after James and Stevens arrived back in Kendal. The room was filled with fifteen or more weary-looking detectives and support staff, and it was clear that they’d reported for duty having had very little sleep.

DCI Tanner was conspicuous by his absence and James was told he’d been called to a meeting at Carleton Hall.

The first item on the agenda was Douglas Hannigan and James consulted his notes as he ran through what the guy had told them.

‘Phil and I are of the same opinion,’ he said. ‘We believe he told us the truth. The guy is seriously fucked up, but it seems highly unlikely that he would have paid someone to go to the hotel to attack Rachel Elliott. But we won’t rule him out entirely until we’ve searched his house and gone through his phone. DS Stevens will be overseeing that.