‘Do you think he was involved with what happened to George?’

Graeme looked away, then back to her. ‘He’s difficult to work out, you know? He acts like the dim laird, but he’s shrewd. He lives and breathes money. I’ve never seen him show interest in anything else other than acquisition.’

‘You know he wasn’t even supposed to get the money. It was all put in trust.’ She watched Graeme’s face.

‘Jesus.’

‘You seem shocked. Why is that?’

‘He’s never really shown any… you know… emotion about what happened to George. It’s as if it was an inconvenience. I also get the impression that his grandfather didn’t approve of his lifestyle, so it’s perhaps not surprising to anyone but him that he’d be cut out of his inheritance.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘He’s gay, Kelly.’

‘Really? I hadn’t noticed.’ She made a note to look into the old peer’s voting history on homosexual legislation. ‘Has your sailing friend got back to you yet?’

‘Yes. He gave me the name of a small business in London.’ He looked at his phone. ‘The name meant nothing to me, so I saved it for you.’

He showed her the screen, and she jotted down the name, not letting on that it was familiar to her. ‘Have you made contact?’ she asked. He shook his head.

‘You know Sebastian never locks the doors up there? I told him he should, but he still doesn’t, not even after the burglary and murder. That’s odd, don’t you think?’

‘In what way?’

‘Do you know any homeowner who takes violation like that so lightly? It’s his property – well, at least that’s what everyone thinks – and George Murphy was supposedly a friend of his grandfather’s.’

She shook her head.

‘So. Where is she?’

He didn’t reply.

‘George paid her ten thousand pounds.’

‘What?’

‘You heard me.’

‘Then she’s definitely better off staying where she is.’

‘Let me talk to her,’ Kelly said. ‘Go on, call her and tell her who you’re with. She should have worked out by now that we want to speak to her.’

‘But you can’t protect her.’

‘Of course we can, and if she puts me in touch with Alexandros, I can protect him too.’

He made the call.

While Kelly waited, Matt called and she answered. He told her that Tilly Knight had been positively ID’d by a uniform stationed outside George’s house on Tuesday, but she’d given her name as Madeleine Cromer and had done a very good impression of a concerned friend.

‘I think I might have found her,’ Kelly said.

‘Let me know when she’s in custody.’

‘We have a problem. She’s terrified, and I’ll need to set up some kind of house protection.’

‘Do it.’

She hung up and listened to Graeme speaking. He passed her his phone.

‘Tilly?’

‘Yes.’