‘Perfectly.’

‘I’ll spend what’s left of the afternoon collating evidence and I’ll make sure it gets updated overnight if anything changes.’

James nodded his thanks. ‘Good work, Dawn. When are you knocking off?’

She shrugged. ‘My shift ends at five, but I’d be happy to stay if you need me.’

James checked his watch. Three-thirty in the afternoon.

‘How many are scheduled to work overnight?’ he asked.

‘Two detectives and three uniforms, sir.’

‘Then you and I will make a point of leaving at five. If I don’t call it a day soon, I’ll probably fall asleep at the wheel going home.’

They both returned to their desks and the first thing James did was call his boss.

James rated DCI Jeff Tanner highly, but at forty-seven he was at a stage in his career where he seemed to be more turned on by the politics of policing than investigating crimes.

‘Hi there, boss,’ James said when Tanner picked up. ‘DC Isaac passed on your message. I gather you’re about to travel back.’

‘Indeed, we are,’ Tanner said. ‘I’m sorry you’ve been lumbered with what sounds like another scorcher of a case. They always seem to crop up when I’m away from the office.’

Perhaps because you’re away from the office more than you ought to be, James thought to himself.

‘Can’t be helped, sir,’ he said. ‘How was your Christmas?’

‘Hectic, even though it was just me, my wife and our son for a change. But look, that’s not what we need to talk about. Have there been any developments since I spoke to Dawn?’

James filled him in on the conversations they’d had with Douglas Hannigan and Erika Chan.

‘I’ll know soon enough if Hannigan’s alibi is legit,’ he said, ‘but I suspect he was at work or in the pub when the murder took place. Erika Chan, on the other hand, is a more likely suspect. She admits that she had what must have been a difficult conversation with Rachel before the service got under way, and as the hotel’s wedding coordinator she would have been able to move around without drawing attention to herself. She doesn’t strike me as a killer, but I very much doubt that the murder was premeditated as it seems more likely to have been the unexpected end result of a violent disagreement.’

James gave Tanner a brief description of the other suspects and ran through the various leads that were being pursued. He then sang the praises of DC Abbott.

‘The way she got on with the job as soon as the alarm was raised was highly commendable and she proved to be a useful source of information.’

‘I’ll make a point of thanking her when I’m in tomorrow,’ Tanner said. ‘Meanwhile, I’ve been speaking to media liaison about perhaps holding a press conference at some point. It could be useful to us.’

‘Agreed, sir. There’ll be a full briefing at nine in the morning. We’ll hopefully have made further progress by then and all the background checks will have been carried out.’