There was a brief pause and then I heard them. It was a shame that video cameras wouldn’t be introduced into smart phones for another few years because I would have loved to have seen them too. What was Cecily wearing? What did she look like, even, when she moved? And where were they? Somewhere inside the hotel from the sounds of it, but it was impossible to be sure.

Alan was on his best behaviour. I almost smiled, recognising the slightly smarmy quality to his voice. He could be ingratiating when he wanted to be, as I knew from experience, although in my case it had always been followed by a series of complaints or an unreasonable demand. It didn’t bother me that I couldn’t see him. Nearly all of my conversations with him had been over the telephone and this was how I knew him. With Cecily it was different. For the first time, she had half come to life – though only half. She had a similar voice to her sister, Lisa. She sounded like a nice person, warm and relaxed.

It was hard to believe that the conversation had taken place eight years ago. The voices were perfectly preserved and it suddenly struck me that when my parents died, the first memory that I’d lost had been what they sounded like. That would never happen again. Modern technology has changed the nature of death.

ALAN:Hello, Mrs MacNeil. Thank you for talking to me.

CECILY:I’m still not used to being called that. Please, call me Cecily.

ALAN:Ah yes. Of course. How was the honeymoon?

CECILY:Well, obviously it was quite difficult, at first, after what happened. It was two weeks late. But we stayed at a lovely hotel. Have you ever been to Antigua?

ALAN:No.

CECILY:Nelson’s Bay. We both needed a holiday, that’s for sure.

ALAN:Well, you’ve managed to get a fantastic tan.

CECILY:Thank you.

ALAN:I don’t want to take up too much of your time.

CECILY:That’s OK. Everything’s very quiet today. How’s your room?

ALAN:It’s very nice. This is a lovely hotel.

CECILY:Yes.

ALAN:By the way, did you know that my ex-wife is renting a property from you?

CECILY:Which property?

ALAN:Oaklands.

CECILY:Melissa! I didn’t know the two of you …

ALAN:We separated last year.

CECILY:Oh. I’m sorry. We’ve chatted once or twice. I sometimes see her in the spa.

ALAN:Don’t worry. It was all very amicable and I’m just glad that she’s happy here. I hope it doesn’t upset you, talking about what happened.

CECILY:No. It’s been more than a month now and we’ve had room twelve cleaned out. A lot of bad things happen in hotels … it’s like in that film, The Shining. I don’t know if you ever saw it? I hardly met Frank Parris and fortunately I didn’t see into the room, so it doesn’t bother me too much. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be dismissive. I know he was your friend.

ALAN:I hadn’t seen him for a while. We met in London.

CECILY:And you live in Framlingham now?

ALAN:Yes.

CECILY:Aiden tells me you’re a writer.

ALAN:Yes. I’ve had two books published. Atticus Pünd Investigates and No Rest for the Wicked.

CECILY:I’m afraid I haven’t read them. I never have time to read very much.

ALAN:They’ve done quite well.

CECILY:Are you going to write about us?

ALAN:That’s not my plan. As I explained to your parents, I just want to know what happened. Frank was very kind to me when I was trying to work things out and I feel I owe it to him.

CECILY:I’d just feel very uncomfortable being in a book.

ALAN:I never put people in my books and certainly not without their permission. And I don’t write true crime.

CECILY:Well, I suppose that’s all right, then.

ALAN:Anyway, I understand the police have made an arrest.

CECILY:Stefan. Yes.

ALAN:Can you tell me about him?

CECILY:What do you want to know?

ALAN:Were you surprised when they arrested him?

CECILY:Yes, I was. Very. In fact, I was shocked. You know my parents have always employed young offenders at the hotel and I think it’s a wonderful idea. We have to help these people. I know Stefan had been in trouble but that wasn’t his fault. He never really had a chance when you think about the world he grew up in. But once he came to the hotel, he was always very grateful, he worked hard and I think he was kind-hearted. I know my sister didn’t like him, but that was because he wouldn’t do what she wanted.

ALAN:And what was that?

CECILY:I mean, he didn’t work hard enough. That’s what she said. She also thought he was stealing, but that could have been anyone. It could have been Lionel or Natasha or anyone. She only picked on him because she knew I liked him and I thought it was wrong to fire him. I wouldn’t tell you this if I hadn’t said exactly the same to her. She didn’t have any proof. I think it was unfair.

ALAN:The police think he may have broken into Frank’s room because he had been fired … because he knew he was leaving the hotel.

CECILY:That’s what they said, but I’m not sure it’s true.

ALAN:You don’t think he did it?

CECILY:I don’t know, Mr Conway. I didn’t think so to begin with. I talked about it with Aiden and even he agreed with me, even though he’d never been one of Stefan’s greatest fans. Stefan was one of the gentlest people I’d ever met. He was always very proper in his dealings with me. And like I said, he knew my parents had given him a real opportunity having him here and he would never have let them down. When I heard he’d confessed, I couldn’t believe it. And now the police are saying that they’ve got more than enough evidence to prosecute, although they won’t tell me what it is. I don’t know. They seem to think it’s an open-and-shut case. They say they found money in his room … I’m sorry. Can you excuse me a moment? It’s just that it’s all so horrible and upsetting … someone getting killed.

The recording is turned off, then turned on again.

CECILY:I’m sorry.

ALAN:No. I can understand. It was your wedding day. The whole thing must have been awful for you.

CECILY:It was.

ALAN:We can do this later, if you like.

CECILY:No. Let’s do it now.

ALAN:Well, I was wondering if you could tell me more about Frank Parris.

CECILY:I didn’t see very much of him. I told you.

ALAN:Did you see him on the Thursday he arrived?

CECILY:No. I heard he didn’t like his room – but Aiden dealt with that. Aiden’s brilliant with the guests. Everyone seems to like him and if there’s ever any problems, he always finds a way round them.

ALAN:He moved Frank into room twelve.

CECILY:He swapped him with another guest. A teacher or something. He hadn’t arrived yet so he wouldn’t know.

ALAN:And then on Friday he went in a taxi to Westleton.

CECILY:Derek arranged that for him. Have you spoken to Derek?

ALAN:Your night manager? I’m seeing him this evening.

CECILY:I saw Mr Parris around lunchtime when he got back. I was having to deal with the people about the marquee. They’d actually let us down quite badly – we won’t use them again – by arriving late. It was all right in the end but I was out on the east lawn when he came back in another taxi and Aiden came out at that moment and I saw the two of them chatting.

ALAN:Do you know what they were talking about?

CECILY:Oh – just the hotel, the room, that sort of thing. I wanted to see Aiden so I went over and joined them. He introduced me.

ALAN:What did you make of Frank Parris?

CECILY:Can I be honest? I know he was your friend and I don’t want to offend you.

ALAN:Please. You can say what you like.

CECILY:Well, I didn’t really take to him. It’s difficult to explain and part of it may be that I had my mind on other things. But I found him quite … I didn’t believe him. I thought he was being just too friendly and pleasant – he was all over Aiden for changing his room – but all the time I got the feeling that he was just pretending. When he said he loved the hotel I got the feeling that he didn’t really like it at all. And when he congratulated Aiden and me because we were getting married, it was almost as if he was sneering at us.

ALAN:Frank could be a little bit … supercilious.

CECILY:I’m not even sure I know what that means.

ALAN:Condescending.

CECILY:It was more than that. He was lying. And actually, I can give you an example. Aiden said that we were having a party that night to celebrate the wedding and he hoped the noise wouldn’t disturb him. And Frank said it didn’t matter because he was out that evening. He was going to Snape Maltings to see a performance of The Marriage of Figaro. I don’t know anything about opera, but I remember that he was absolutely specific about the name. He went on and on about how it was his favourite opera and he’d always enjoyed it and that he couldn’t wait to see it.

ALAN:What makes you think he was lying?

CECILY:I know he was lying because I happened to go to Snape Maltings a couple of days later – they had a market – and I saw a list of all the events and The Marriage of Figaro wasn’t on it. They had a youth orchestra playing Benjamin Britten that Friday night.

ALAN:Why do you think he would make up something like that?

CECILY:Because of what I just told you. He was sneering at us.