Eventually, Hannigan threw out a long sigh and gave a tense nod.

‘Okay, I’ll admit to sending her the card,’ he said, his voice slow and measured. ‘I did it in a moment of madness because I was so furious with her. I tried phoning her but she wouldn’t take my calls. I thought of going to the café where she worked but talked myself out of it because I knew it wouldn’t be sensible.’

‘So how did you know that it was her?’ James asked.

‘Nobody else who was at the party would have done that to me,’ he said. ‘I also know she had other pictures from that night on her phone because she showed me a couple of the two of us together. I didn’t know she’d snapped several of me doing stuff. If I had, I would have made her delete them.’

By now a nervous sweat sparkled above Hannigan’s top lip and his breathing was rapid.

‘So, we’ve established that you did make a threat against Rachel,’ DS Stevens said. ‘What we now want to know is: did you go to The Fells Hotel yesterday with the intention of carrying it out?’

A flash of panic passed over Hannigan’s face. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Yes, I admit I sent the card and that was a stupid thing to have done. But it was only meant to put the wind up her. I felt that was the least she deserved after what she did to me. I would never have done anything to hurt her.’

‘Then can you account for your movements yesterday?’ Stevens asked him.

‘Of course I can. I was at work in the office until six. After work, I had a quick New Year’s Eve drink with the team in the pub across the road and left there about seven. After driving home, I showered and changed and then got into a taxi and went to a house party here in Kendal. I came back home at two this morning and went straight to bed.’

‘Can anyone corroborate this?’ James said.

Hannigan nodded. ‘My staff were with me the whole time at work and in the pub. There are three of them. As you probably know, I run my own production company here in Kendal, which is why I wasn’t sacked after the story appeared in the Gazette.’

James pushed down his disappointment and got Hannigan to give him the names and contact details of his colleagues, and the name of the pub they went to. If his alibi stood up then they’d lost him as a suspect.

‘And what about the girlfriend you mentioned?’

‘She was at work. She’s in events.’

James went on to ask a few more questions and Hannigan dutifully answered them. Finally, the two detectives got up to leave and James said, ‘Thank you for your time, Mr Hannigan. Provided what you’ve told us is true, I see no reason why we’ll need to bother you again.’

They were about to step out of the living room when they all heard the sound of the front door opening and a woman’s voice called out, ‘It’s me. I’m home. We need to talk.’