‘Why didn’t you call to tell me about what she said to you?’ Hannigan asked her, his voice unsteady.

‘I did, but you didn’t answer,’ Chan replied.

‘But you phoned me after her body was found in the lake. You could have told me then.’

She glared at him, judgement in her eyes. ‘I decided it would be best to ask you about it when I got home. Face to face. And that’s why I said we needed to talk when I walked through the front door just now.’

‘Look, what I did was wrong,’ Hannigan said. ‘That’s why I didn’t tell you about it. I knew you’d be mortified.’

Chan turned away from him, gnawing her lower lip, tears in her eyes.

‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart,’ Hannigan carried on. ‘I really am. But I promise you it was a silly empty threat and nothing more.’

She turned back to Hannigan and shook her head at him. ‘What else have you done that you haven’t told me about? Are you back on the drugs having promised that you’d never touch them again?’

Hannigan spluttered out a response that reeked of desperation. ‘There’s nothing else. Honest. And I haven’t taken any drugs. That’s all behind me, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I sent that card to Rachel. It was stupid.’

Chan held his gaze for a second before her gaze fell to her lap and she started sobbing. This time, when he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, she let him leave it there.

Once she had composed herself, James asked, ‘How did you feel about Rachel, knowing she probably sent the photos to the paper?’

‘I was angry for sure because I thought Douglas had a good chance of winning that by-election,’ she said. ‘It was a wretched thing for her to have done just to get back at him for breaking up with her. But equally, what he did to her by sending that birthday card was outrageous and I can’t think what possessed him to do it. I know what you’re suggesting but I never went to the jetty during the wedding reception and would not have dreamed of causing Rachel any harm.

‘On my mother’s life, it wasn’t me who killed her,’ she said tearfully. ‘And I really don’t know who did.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

‘Thoughts?’ James asked when he was back behind the wheel of his car.

DS Stevens clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. ‘Hannigan is a grade-A prick, for sure,’ he said. ‘He should have known better than to have threatened Rachel and he’s lucky she didn’t come straight to us. But I’ll be surprised if his alibi doesn’t stand up. He knows it’s going to be easy for us to check it out. As for Miss Chan, well, I think she’s probably telling the truth about Rachel confronting her at the wedding. But it’s easy to imagine that they had more than just a short, civil conversation.’