‘That night, after she left the pub, she rang me from a payphone,’ he said. ‘We’d agreed that she’d come back to the hotel at eleven, that was the deal, so me and the wife could go to sleep and not worry about where she was. I’d made it very clear to Rhiannon before she left, but she called me at half ten to tell me she was going to be back late. I was fuming, but she told me not to worry. We had words about it, we argued.

‘What I should have done is tell her to stay where she was, and go and pick her up. But I was lying on the bed with a brandy in one hand and the TV remote in the other, and I didn’t. I asked her to tell us where she was going, at least. She wouldn’t, but her last words to me before she put down the phone were that she was going to be famous. You’ll read about me in the papers, Uncle Davey. I didn’t know what she was talking about at the time, what on earth did that mean, but afterwards it all became clear. She was going to wait for the celebrity, and his gang. She intended to sleep with him, and I think she got her wish. The police dismissed the call at the time, of course, because they assumed someone snatched her while she was waiting.’

He leaned forward so suddenly that Sasha had to force herself not to flinch. ‘Cruikshank, that Abs—’ He spat out the name. ‘He thinks that because he’s famous he can get away with anything, even murder.’

‘The cottage where the four men were staying was examined, and no trace of her was found.’

‘Yeah.’ Jenkins snorted in disgust. ‘It was spotless, from what I heard. When was the last time you heard of a holiday home rented out by four young men that was left sparkling clean and tidy afterwards? I’m expected to believe that some random came along and took her? Rhiannon would never have gone with a stranger, but she wanted to be famous more than anything, she wanted to be on TV, and that wish got her killed.’

‘Where were you on Tuesday—’

‘Oh, give over,’ said Jenkins angrily. ‘I didn’t come all this way to kill Andrew Dean. I’ve been a bad boy, I know people, and it wouldn’t be difficult for someone with my connections to find someone to do it for me. Why are you asking me all these questions when you should be talking to those three men? To Cruikshank and Weston and Gardner? Do your job, do – your – job!’