‘I’d better let Tanner know,’ he said. ‘He’ll be none too pleased.’

And he wasn’t. The DCI swore into the phone and told James that a press release would have to be put out.

‘I’ll sort it from this end,’ he said. ‘It’s only fair to the guy to announce as soon as possible that he’s been cleared.’

‘We could have cleared him much sooner if he hadn’t decided to do a runner,’ James pointed out. ‘We weren’t able to look for his car until we identified him and then got the registration from the leasing company.’

‘Well, it’s not good news, and at this rate it won’t be long before we run out of bloody suspects altogether.’

Minutes later, James was back in the interview room breaking the news to Salvi and his brief.

The Italian reacted by dropping his face into his hands and mumbling what sounded like a prayer.

James then explained how they had been able to prove that what he’d told them was true.

‘You’ll be pleased to know that you are now free to go, Mr Salvi. I’ll see that your belongings are returned to you and we’ll arrange transport for you back to London.’

Salvi sat up straight and pushed his shoulders back. His face was red, and it looked as though he was about to cry.

‘I don’t blame you for believing that I might have killed Rachel,’ he said. ‘I should not have panicked and tried to leave the country. It was foolish and unforgivable.’

James nodded. ‘I won’t argue with you there, Mr Salvi. It caused us to waste a lot of very valuable time.’

‘I realise that and I’m sorry. I will have to live with the guilt of leaving her that night and it won’t be easy. Rachel was a kind and generous person and I’ll never forget what fun we had together while I was here. I really hope that you can now go on and catch the person who did that horrible thing to her. Whoever it was deserves to rot in prison.’

He began to cry then and James left it to his solicitor to console him. When he returned to the office, he asked DC Sharma to make all the arrangements on Salvi’s behalf. He then got the team together and gave them a short pep talk.

‘We still have other suspects and other leads that need to be followed up,’ he said. ‘So, let’s crack on with the case and not allow ourselves to become too disheartened.’

He fired off a few more instructions before heading back to his desk. Just as he got there, his mobile rang. He pulled it from his pocket and saw it was a call from Victoria Hartley, the Family Liaison Officer assigned to Rachel’s parents.

‘I’m ringing to update you on a couple of things, guv,’ she said. ‘Is now a good time?’

‘Sure. Fire away.’

‘As per your instructions, I’ve arranged for Mr Elliott to formally identify his daughter’s body at ten tomorrow morning. And his other daughter will be going with him.’