A shadow crossed her face and she bit her lip. ‘But if he didn’t do it then who did?’

‘We still don’t know,’ James said. ‘The reason we came here today was to provide you with an update on the investigation, just as I promised you I would. And I was hoping that Libby would be here as well.’

‘She had to go,’ Denise said. ‘We told her we would pass on whatever information you gave us.’

‘And how is she?’

It was Fraser who answered. ‘She’s still finding it hard, as we all are, but I think that coming here this morning has helped.’

‘I told her that I was sorry for my outburst at the hotel,’ Denise explained, ‘and that I was wrong to make her feel guilty about what happened to Rachel. It wasn’t her fault and I wanted to tell her that to her face. That’s why we asked her to come over.’

‘I understand there was an incident outside with the press when they arrived,’ James said.

Fraser nodded. ‘The bloody vultures caused trouble at Libby’s house yesterday and here today. They won’t leave us alone. We’ve had phone calls and visits from newspapers, radio and television. But no way are we prepared to be interviewed.’

‘Are you aware that Mr Murphy was on the radio this morning?’

‘We weren’t until our daughter told us. He spoke to them yesterday afternoon when they turned up at the hotel. To be fair to the man, he does keep checking to see if we’re all right.’

‘And how is Mrs Prescott?’ James asked.

‘Oh, she was a bit shaken but otherwise okay. Given how frail she is, she was lucky. She did have a cry when she came in here though. But it wasn’t over that.’

‘What was it over then?’

‘The WhatsApp message that Rachel sent to Libby. Libby told us about it and Claire got upset because she said you more or less accused her son of going after Rachel to stop her causing a fuss over nothing.’

‘We didn’t accuse him of anything,’ James said. ‘We merely asked some questions because it was a curious message and it was sent perhaps only minutes before Rachel went down to the jetty.’

‘Our daughter told us exactly what happened, Inspector,’ Fraser said. ‘And we have no reason not to believe her. Rachel obviously got it wrong. Libby had only just got married, for heaven’s sake. She’d gotten worked up because of her conversation with Rachel and Ethan was there to comfort her. Their fling ended a long time ago but they’ve remained good friends so there was nothing inappropriate about it.’

James tried not to let the scepticism show on his face and said, ‘One of the things we came to tell you is that we now know why Rachel got so upset after the wedding ceremony.’

The couple glanced at each other and Fraser took his wife’s hand.

‘It would seem that Rachel misunderstood the nature of her relationship with Mr Salvi,’ he said. ‘I think it’s fair to say that when Mr Salvi told her that he didn’t love her and that he didn’t want her to go to Italy with him, it broke her heart.’