‘No. Well, kind of. I’d asked the brigadier to do a bit of digging to see if he could get someone from the Dhekelia base to visit Alexandros. He said he’d pass it on to someone else at the MoD. After Alex’s disappearance, I called him back and asked him who he’d contacted.’

‘You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that. What did he say?’

‘He sighed and said he was very busy, but he gave me a name.’

‘And that name means something?’

‘It does indeed. He’s a colonel who’s another one of Sebastian Montague-Roland’s mates, and he was sitting right next to Sebastian at the dinner. That’s not all. A long time ago, he was Leo Brown’s commanding officer.’

‘I’ll have it put to Brown; meanwhile I’ll get the alumni party in for interview.’

‘No. That will let them know we’re on to them, and with their money and resources, they could set about destroying evidence…’ She fell silent.

‘What is it?’

‘Miranda Cooper.’

‘What about her?’

‘She was calling me the night of the crash. She’d just been sacked.’

‘You think she had something to tell us?’

‘I wonder if her office has been cleared out yet.’

‘I’ll send someone.’

‘And I’ll ask Graeme Millar about Leo Brown.’

‘I really think it’s time I came up to Cumbria.’

‘No! You can’t do that.’ She tried to compose herself.

‘I have more than fifty super-capable officers working round the clock on every single London lead, I think it’s time I saw where it all started. Meanwhile I’ll set up surveillance on DEFRA.’ He hung up.

Kelly banged her phone against her head. Fuck. A thought occurred to her and she called him back.

‘So soon? I’m just booking my tickets.’

She ignored him. ‘Can you put the DEFRA surveillance on HOLMES?’

He agreed, and she ended the call. She toyed with the idea of going back to London on Monday to prevent him coming, but he was bull-headed and she knew she couldn’t stop him. But she also realised that she couldn’t avoid him.