As she walked to the lift, the self-reproach turned to excitement as it dawned on her that not only had she resolved the past in her own head, she was also going to see Johnny very soon. It put a spring in her step and she didn’t look back as she entered the lift. She grabbed a coffee on her way out, and saw that the car was waiting for her, with Emma inside.

It had been a productive trip and she’d achieved what she’d set out to do: namely to give context to the two cases and ensure consistency between the forces. Sometimes, working with the Met could turn into a David and Goliath situation, and she hoped Matt wouldn’t veer away from what they’d agreed now that she’d left. Surely not even he would be that immature. She mulled over his parting words and closed her eyes, willing them to be desperation to get her to stay. She couldn’t believe he’d come all the way to Cumbria just to make a point.

She greeted the driver and her colleague and popped her coffee into a holder. Once she was settled in the back of the car, she arranged her notes and various screens around her so she could keep up to date, and they set off.

So far no one had been able to get hold of Matilda Knight. She had been seen up to now as merely a person of interest, but after her car was caught on the ANPR travelling north, she had moved closer to the top of Kelly’s list. If her journalistic nose had got the better of her, it made perfect sense to check out George’s last days in the Lake District. More worrying was what had happened to her flat. If the woman was in danger, they only had limited time to find her. Kelly put a call through to DS Umshaw and told her to release Knight’s photograph to local units. They needed to find her. She was perhaps the last person to speak to George. It was looking more and more likely that it was his controversial work that he’d been killed for, and speaking to a journalist before a homicide was something that needed investigation. Perhaps she’d gone off radar on purpose. Someone could have easily called her to tell her what had happened to her flat; it was big news in the apartment block where she lived.