‘We’ll be here for another few hours at least,’ Coppell said. ‘But I’m not too optimistic about finding anything else that will shed more light on what happened. And if I’m honest, I don’t believe that forensic evidence will solve this case for you. There’s just too little of it. Plus, the whole scene has been compromised by the weather and the number of people who trampled over it before we were able to seal it off.’

During the catch-up, James learned that every room in the hotel had been checked and all the footage from the surveillance cameras had now been viewed. Guests and staff were beginning to leave and the only person still unaccounted for was Rachel Elliott’s Italian boyfriend.

‘Carlo Salvi remains our prime suspect and we need to do all we can to track him down,’ James said. ‘But Mark Slade, the best man, cannot be ruled out. We know he has a history of violence against women, but as there were no witnesses and he denies threatening Belinda Travers in the garden, it’s his word against hers. He has also denied killing Rachel and right now there’s no evidence to prove that he did.’

James then told them about the birthday card found in Rachel’s bedroom at home and why her parents were convinced that it was sent to her by her ex, film maker Douglas Hannigan.

‘As soon as I have his address, I intend to pay him a visit,’ he said. ‘In the meantime, we need to find out as much as we can about him. A good place to start is the Cumbria Gazette story that exposed him as a drug taker and forced him to pull out of the parliamentary by-election. I know the journalist who wrote it so I intend to call him to find out if it was Rachel who gave them the photos from the house party.

‘DC Hall, I’d like you to go back through the surveillance footage to see if Hannigan appeared on any of it. It seems extremely unlikely that he would have come into the hotel, but we need to be sure,’ he said.

‘Now, I’m going straight from here to Kendal HQ but I want us to maintain a strong presence here throughout the day,’ he went on. ‘No new guests will be checking in and the media are to be kept at bay. Those of you who’ve been working through the night will be relieved as soon as possible. DC Abbott, it’s time you went home and got some rest. All credit to you for holding it together and getting on with the job despite the strain you’ve been under. It can’t have been easy.’

‘Thank you, guv,’ Abbott said. ‘I appreciate it. And I think I’m about ready for a little nap.’

As the group dispersed, James decided to check on Libby and have a quick word with the manager, Karen Cornwall, before leaving the hotel.

But just as he was about to exit the Garden Room he was confronted by an irate Greg Murphy.