As James climbed into his car, he could feel adrenaline searing his senses. The case was suddenly moving at a rate of knots and there were already three people in the frame – Douglas Hannigan, Carlo Salvi and Mark Slade. And he still considered several other individuals to be persons of interest, including Ethan Prescott, Greg Murphy and even his new wife, given the somewhat turbulent relationship that had existed between the two sisters. And with so many people moving around the hotel and its grounds while the reception was taking place it was possible that any one of them could have slipped down to the jetty unnoticed and got involved in an altercation with Rachel that resulted in her death.

Daylight was fast approaching as James drove back to The Fells Hotel and during the short trip he used the hands-free to call HQ in Kendal. He assigned one of the duty officers to gather information on Douglas Hannigan, including his address.

‘And find out if the victim, Rachel Elliott, came to us in recent weeks to report that she’d received an anonymous threat,’ he said.

When he arrived back at the hotel, James saw a TV news satellite truck parked opposite the entrance and two press photographers on the pavement. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d be expected to make himself available for an interview and that wasn’t something he was looking forward to.

Once parked up he stayed sitting in the car and tapped Douglas Hannigan into his internet browser. There were lots of men with that name, but only one who had attracted a significant amount of media attention during the past year.

He was thirty-three and ran a multi-award-winning TV production company based in Kendal. According to its website, it produced wildlife documentaries, corporate and promotional videos, and commercials. Hannigan was currently single and had spent nine years in the Army, including a stint in Afghanistan. He was until recently a prominent local councillor and had planned to run for Parliament in a by-election but he was forced to withdraw after the Cumbria Gazette ran its exclusive exposé.

James found the story easily enough. It was written by Gordon Carver – a journalist he often came into contact with – and it had dominated the paper’s front page.

There were two photographs: one showing Hannigan sniffing lines of coke from a tray on a coffee table during what looked like a party in someone’s living room, and another where he was lying on his back on a sofa with his eyes closed and his mouth wide open, seemingly unconscious. Resting on his chest was an ashtray containing what looked like the remains of a joint.

James recalled how the story had dominated the local headlines at the time.

SHAME OF THE WOULD-BE POLITICIAN

By Gordon Carver

This is not the behaviour one would expect from a man who wants to represent our community as a Member of Parliament.

Kendal film maker and ex-Marine Douglas Hannigan is standing as an independent candidate in the forthcoming Westmorland and Lonsdale by-election, but these exclusive pictures now cast doubt on his fitness for office.