Valerie Marks is the murderer.

You said Mr Jones had a relationship with Mrs Marks "a long time ago" and that someone lied.

Maybe Mr Jones lied about his medical condition and the 3 year old is his. He has been paying alimony for the child into a separate bank account from his illicit drug earnings hence Mrs Marks has not used the joint account since 1998.

However, I'm not sure I would class 3 years as a "long time ago" in the context of the story. Maybe the 7 year old is his and the fling was just before Mrs Marks got married.

Not sure what the motive would be though.

I think she attacked her husband with the trophy and then grabbed the jock strap form JH's bag and strangled him with it. She hit him in the groin because she'd found out about the affair.

Maybe she was in love with RH but couldn't be with him because GM said if she left she wouldn't be able to see her kids. So she was furious when she found out he was having an affair.

But this doesn't tie in the money from the house sale, tax evasion etc. Hmmmm.

Also, I'm wondering who RH is separated from and whom GJ divorced.

What if GJ divorced Alison Nettles and she returned to her maiden name and that is why he was spying on her? And the complaints against him were because he was stalking her?

Grrrrr. I so wish I'd seen this post when it first came out. 😢

I don't want to be told the answer. I want to work it out for myself!

I need to get on with some other stuff. Maybe something else will come to me while I'm otherwise engaged. 😁