‘I believe you’re working for Sebastian Montague-Roland?’

‘He asked if I could project-manage the refurbishment of Allerdale House.’

‘The place doesn’t even belong to him.’ It was a slight massaging of the facts, but up until recently – and perhaps not until she read the documents – it was true.

‘What?’ It was genuine shock.

Dave Crawley’s face came back to her. She hoped Graeme wouldn’t let her down like Dave had. She studied him and tried to find signs of truth or deceit; she could detect neither.

‘How many times have you been to the house?’

‘I can’t remember.’

‘Isn’t it a little convenient that you saw some men posing as surveyors? Why didn’t you tell me before?’

‘I found a dead body; it was nothing to do with the house then.’

‘Do you know Leo Brown?’

‘No.’

‘Do you know Tilly Knight?’

He opened his mouth.

‘I see. Where is she, Graeme?’

‘How do you know her?’ he asked, avoiding the question.

‘She was the last person George spoke to from Allerdale House before he was killed.’

‘She didn’t tell me that.’

‘What else did she forget to tell you? Do you know where she is now?’

‘Safe.’

‘What?’

‘There were some suspicious guys hanging around her guest house, and when I went up to her room, it had been turned over. They took her laptop; it has everything on it that she was working on.’

‘What did George tell her?’

‘I’m not really sure. All I know is that she’s terrified, and it has something to do with what they were doing in some lab in London. She said that Alex told her—’

‘Alex? She’s been in contact with Alexandros Skarparis, in Cyprus?’

‘Yes.

‘Jesus. You have to tell me where she is, Graeme. If you withhold the information, you could get into a lot of trouble.’

‘It sounds like I’m in trouble already. I’m quite happy to be hauled into a cell if it means she’s safe.’

‘Don’t be an idiot. You’ve only known her for five minutes.’

‘So what?’

Kelly saw then that he really cared for her. Perhaps their relationship was genuine, on his part at least. It was touching, and she softened.

They sat in silence for long minutes.

‘I asked an old sailing pal of mine to look out for some of the goods that were stolen from the boathouse up at Allerdale House.’

‘How do you know about that?’

‘Everybody knows! Anyway, Sebastian said he wants to replace the antique oar boat, though not in not so many words. He’s not the sharpest tool in the drawer. I think he genuinely thought I wouldn’t put two and two together. I know quite a lot of people in the sailing industry; he asked me to source a replica, without actually telling me that his Grandfather’s had been stolen.’