‘No. He’s cleverer than that. All he wanted was for the line to go ahead. That was what he told me. My job was to sway the committee, to use my influence so the decision would go in his favour. If the vote was passed, he’d destroy the evidence.’

‘You were against the line.’

‘To begin with I was undecided. On the face of it, there seemed to be benefits. But the more I looked into it, the more I saw the harm that it could do. I have friends. I’ve known Henry and Susan Queripel most of their lives. Do you think I want to see their beautiful house ruined?’

‘But that’s exactly what you do want to see,’ Hawthorne said. ‘You did what Abbott told you. You supported the line. You got it signed off. You’ve sold all your friends up the river to protect yourself.’

Matheson had no answer to that. He’d been defeated when we walked in. Now he was destroyed.

Hawthorne got up. ‘We’ll show ourselves out,’ he said.

We left the house together but we didn’t get back in the car. Hawthorne didn’t want to talk where Terry could overhear, and anyway, he needed a cigarette. We stood in the road in front of the house while he smoked.

‘I didn’t see a security camera,’ I said.

Hawthorne looked surprised. ‘Well done, Tony. I wondered if you’d notice. That’s because it wasn’t there.’

‘So how . . . ?’

‘How did Derek Abbott get pictures from a camera that didn’t exist? Well, there are two possibilities. The first is that he somehow found out what was going to happen and he put it there. The second is that there was a camera six months ago, but for some reason Helen le Mesurier or her husband decided to take it down.’

‘How will you find out?’

‘Well, I’m not sure Derek Abbott will tell us anything – not when it’s going to put him back in jail. So our best chance is Helen le Mesurier.’

‘If they ever find her.’

‘And if she’s still alive.’

They did find her, later that afternoon. She wasn’t alive.