Stan’s designer suit was creased and he filled the small room with the smell of stale sweat. The tape had been rolling for a couple of minutes. Jacob leaned back in the plastic chair, creaking with every small movement. The man removed his glasses and placed them on the table. She could tell he was tired. The length of his stubble and the greasy bit of hair he had showed he hadn’t seen a bathroom that morning. ‘What were you doing after five in the afternoon yesterday, Mr North?’

‘Not what you think I was doing.’ The man shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

‘So enlighten me.’ Gina threw her pen to the table and folded her arms.

‘You think you have me all worked out? You haven’t. I had no intention of hurting the girl. I went back to the farm shop. You showed me a photo of a girl the other day.’

‘Simone Duxford?’ Jacob pulled the photo from the file and slid it across the table.

He nodded. ‘That’s her.’

‘You recognised her, didn’t you?’ Gina unfolded her arms. He nodded again. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

‘I couldn’t.’ The man leaned his head in his hands and sweat began to roll down his forehead. ‘I didn’t want my wife to know.’

‘Know what?’

He looked away.

‘We’re going to find out, Mr North. You need to tell us how you were involved or you could be charged with obstructing an officer in the course of their duties.’

‘I had sex with her.’ He rubbed his temples as tears began to run down his face. ‘She was out of it, on something. I went to the shop, the farm shop, and Mr Hanley served me. This was back in December last year. I bought a holly wreath for my wife, as you do. I remember feeling sorry for him. He and his wife were caring for a relative in a wheelchair who looked totally incapable of doing anything for herself. I gave them a twenty-pound tip. They had her at the back of the shop, and she was calling away. I saw the red-haired girl leave through the back door. I swear, I’d never seen anyone so captivating, so beautiful. She had this almost translucent skin and looked so pure. The woman in the wheelchair began screaming, reciting the same noises over and over again. It made me jump and I’m embarrassed to say, slightly uncomfortable. Anyway, at that point, I left the shop.’ The man wept into his hands.

‘Go on, Mr North.’

‘I’ve never done anything like this in my life and I’m so ashamed. For all my years of marriage, I’ve not once cheated on my wife, except for this one time. The girl was outside, it was dark. She basically offered it to me on a plate, said she needed to feel something and she could tell I’d noticed her. She beckoned me over to a shed at the back of the car park. She pulled down her thick tights and hitched up her denim skirt. I stupidly followed. I remember her kissing me and cupping me, rubbing and gyrating against me. I wanted her so badly. She wanted me. I never assaulted her. I even asked her if I could see her again. The way things were at home, with Elizabeth, I’d have left in an instant, but she just pulled her tights up and told me to leave.’

‘She was young enough to be your daughter. She was eighteen.’ Gina watched as he breathed a sigh of relief. Gina could tell that he hadn’t been sure.

‘I haven’t done anything wrong then?’

‘If you say so, Mr North.’ Maybe he hadn’t legally been out of order with Simone but there was always that moral question that would haunt him. He hadn’t known her age. She looked younger than her years. He couldn’t have been sure. ‘So, why were you chasing Elisa Stanford through the woods yesterday?’

‘That really wasn’t what it looked like. I only went back to the shop this week to see if the new girl remembered the red-haired girl. I couldn’t ask her when I got there. I don’t know why. Maybe I thought she’d link her death to me. Anyway, it played on my mind and when I saw her walking alongside the road, I pulled over. It wasn’t planned. I just had to ask if she knew anything. I thought if I said something to you, you’d think I did it. I didn’t mean to chase her. She got scared and ran. I kept telling her to stop. I just wanted to explain myself. I messed the whole thing up.’

‘You left her in the woods, unconscious, with a head injury!’

‘I called Bryn Tilly, asked him to check on something at the house. I hoped he’d find her and he did. I didn’t leave her.’ He wiped a tear from his eye.

‘How well do you know the Hanleys?’

‘I don’t.’ Gina kept her gaze on him. ‘I’ve seen them once, that time when I bought the wreath.’

‘Interview terminated at fifteen twenty.’ Gina checked the time and she was running short of it. She glanced back at Stan, his head in his hands. He knew his wife would end up finding out his sordid little secret. She wondered if he was truly ashamed. She felt he was more likely upset that he’d been found out. A message from Wyre flashed up on her phone.

She nodded and closed her notebook. They had to get to Clover Farm.