‘Yes, I went there,’ Leighton Matthews said, looking up from the CCTV image that sat on the desk in front of him. ‘But I didn’t hit her.’

He glanced at Frankie Piper as though to check the solicitor still believed him. Judging by the stern expression that had fixed itself on the woman’s face, Alex doubted that was now likely.

Chloe had joined them for this second part of the interview. She sat by Alex’s side, quietly taking in the panic that had set in on the man’s face now they had produced a piece of physical evidence against him.

‘This is your car, yes?’

‘Yes.’

‘So why did you go there? Why would you go to the home of one of your students? Unless, of course …’

Alex left the insinuation hanging in the air between them. An hour earlier, Frankie Piper would have jumped to her client’s defence. Now it seemed she had given up on him. She too was looking to him, waiting for an explanation.

‘I didn’t hit her,’ he repeated, ignoring Alex’s question. ‘I went there, but I changed my mind. I didn’t go to her house, I didn’t see her.’

‘What time did you get to the house?’

‘I don’t know,’ Matthews said, looking and sounding increasingly flustered. ‘Elevenish.’

‘So you drove to her house, stayed in the car, then turned round and drove back home.’

He hesitated. ‘Pretty much, yeah.’

‘Why did you go there?’

Once again, he refused to answer the question.

Alex pushed the photograph towards him. ‘This camera picked up your car at a set of traffic lights near the College Arms in Treforest at 12.06. It’s only a few minutes from Leah’s house. If you went to Treforest at around eleven o’clock and didn’t stay long, as you claim, the times don’t really match up, do they?’

She sat back and waited for him to say something. His face had paled, the arrogance gone now, wiped away by the evidence that lay in front of him. He was staring at the photograph on the desk, knowing they had him cornered.

‘What’s the name of the street?’ asked Alex.

‘What?’

‘The name of the street Leah lives on. What is it?’

He looked at each of the women in turn, confusion stamped across his face. ‘I … I …’ he bumbled. ‘I don’t remember.’

‘Describe the street for me, please, Mr Matthews.’

He looked imploringly at his solicitor, his panic becoming evident. ‘I went there at night. It was dark. It’s just … it’s just a terraced street.’

Alex sat back and studied the man. ‘Are you or have you ever been involved in a relationship with Leah Cross?’

‘No.’

‘We’ve now got evidence that places your car not far from where Leah was hit by a vehicle matching its description, yet you told us this morning that you and your wife were in bed at midnight on Wednesday. What possible reason could you have had to be in this area,’ she tapped the photograph in front of her, ‘if not to pay Leah a visit? What did she threaten you with, Leighton? Was she going to tell the university you’d been helping her pass the course? Or did you try to break it off with her? Was she upset that you’d ended the affair? Did she threaten to tell your wife everything? You’ve already admitted to us that your wife knew about your previous relationship … surely this one would have been the final straw. Did you decide to shut Leah up before she could expose you?’

‘No!’ He slammed a fist on the desk. The noise was quickly replaced by an uncomfortable silence that fell over all four of them. Frankie Piper was no longer able to hide her disdain behind a mask of stoic professionalism. Her painted eyebrows were raised, but Matthews refused to meet her eye.

Alex wondered where Tom Stoddard came into all this. Had he been aware of a relationship between Leah and her lecturer? Had Matthews killed him to keep him quiet?

‘We know you’re lying about something, Leighton. If there was anything going on between you and Leah, don’t you think she’s bound to tell us now?’

There was no reason for him to know that Leah had gone AWOL, not unless she had been in touch with him. His phone would now be checked for that. Had she known it was Matthews who’d hit her with his car? Was she in love with him, Alex wondered, or at the very least, did she believe herself to be? Perhaps, through some misguided notion of loyalty towards him, she would attempt to protect him even though she knew he was guilty.

They needed to get hold of her, and the best and most likely way of achieving that now was through Leighton Matthews.

‘You’d have lost everything, wouldn’t you, Leighton? Wife, family, home, career. Easier just to shut her up.’

He was shaking his head now, his eyes lowered to his lap. He looked suddenly dejected, all the arrogance and certainty drained from him. ‘You’ve got it all wrong.’

‘Did you have a sexual relationship with Leah Cross?’ Alex asked again.

‘No, I didn’t.’ He looked up from his lap and met Alex’s eyes, the aggression gone now. ‘Leah is my daughter.’