Taylor needed to ensure that all lines of inquiry were vetted. She also needed to ensure a lid was kept on it. From bitter experience, it was impossible to suppress a spy angle once it was out. The press went wild. In short, she needed to ensure the investigation due to Petra Wade could take place while keeping the police as uninvolved with the details of Rory Bannatyne’s work as possible. Taylor having arrived with a team hadn’t impressed Rehman. Her welcome was laced with an appraisal of what she was up against.

“Petra Wade went missing in the twenty-four-hour period in which your employee took his life. That would place him as a suspect at the best of times. But there is some further corroborating material.”

Taylor felt the adrenaline start.

“We’d like to know everything you know,” she said.

“I’m sure.” Rehman set the map beside a timeline. “Your employee was seen with the victim several times over the last few months. Sometimes just with her, sometimes with other teenagers.”

Taylor peered across the paperwork, trying to discern where these facts lay among the fragments. This was what she’d been dreading. She hoped her concern looked like the right kind.

“Doing what, exactly?” Taylor asked.

“It’s a good question. Mr. Bannatyne clearly knew the girl, and he took his life in the hours following her disappearance. So you can understand that right now he’s very much of interest to us. We’d appreciate some more insight into him—who he was, what he was doing there.”

“Of course,” Taylor said. “Can I ask about the police on the island itself? To what extent are these concerns coming from them?”

“We are working closely with the Ascension Island Police Detachment. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Okay.” Taylor felt frustration at the distance again, this island on the other side of the world that she needed to know so much about. She was glad to have sent Kane. Both she and DCI Rehman were working half blind, but she had a spy on his way. “I appreciate how this looks, and I can assure you that we want to cooperate fully.”

“We’re aware that we won’t be given access to everything Mr. Bannatyne was working on. But we need to know some details of his life on Ascension. In particular, the time leading up to the victim’s disappearance. Is that something you can throw any light on?”

“It’s difficult. We were only in intermittent contact.”

“You personally?”

“Yes.”

“When did you last speak to him?”

“Two days before he died.”

“And what did he say?”

“It was confirmation that his work had gone well. He intended to come back. We discussed arrangements for travel.”

“Are you able to tell me at least roughly what his work involved?”