She went back to her computer screen and studied the information she’d collated over the last few hours. She decided to take a break and spend some time searching the social media accounts of the Montague Club and its various members. Tooting’s wife’s Instagram page threw up a few interesting photos. The woman was immaculate, and whilst Kelly acknowledged that such accounts were by no means a true reflection of real life, the lifestyle displayed there was opulent to the extent of being obscene. There were photographs of yachts, designer clothes, exotic destinations, flash cars and a woman seemingly doing very little, and never with her husband. Kelly did a few calculations in her head and figured that Philip Tooting might well be able to afford such a grand lifestyle. She wondered if Christopher Slater’s wife enjoyed the party life too, or the wife of a colonel, who should be able to afford jack shit.

Slater’s wife posted pictures of her house and lavish gardens. Kelly knew that a non-executive director working for a parliamentary under-secretary might earn six figures, but she was curious as to how he sustained clear personal wealth beyond that sum. Perhaps he had other clever investments. Perhaps not.

She quickly called Johnny and asked him how much he reckoned a colonel sitting at a desk in the MOD, close to retirement age, might take home, then she searched for the man on Facebook. It was all there in his profile: the name of his wife, and pictures of their three children, who, it appeared, all attended expensive schools. She knew that the army paid school fees, but only if the children boarded because the parents were overseas. Quick phone calls confirmed they didn’t.

The photographs posted by the Colonel and his wife were fairly standard – summer holidays, meals out and the like – but the children were a different matter altogether. A picture of a business-class seat on an Emirates flight stood out, as did several references to their horses. It was a red flag, and she dug deeper and deeper into the lavish world of the pals who graced the halls of the Montague Club.

At last she rubbed her eyes and stood up to stretch her legs. Something else was on her mind and it wasn’t the inquiry. She needed to explain to Johnny that the SIO currently making his way up to Cumbria was more than an ex-colleague.

Chapter 44