‘Why bad news? Surely something so genius is a cause for celebration?’

‘She said something about losing revenue from drugs used to treat addiction. I guess what she was trying to say is that it has the potential to impact global economies.’

‘Of course it would.’ That was just what Tilly Knight had told her. They needed to get Alexandros here as soon as they could, and she willed the operation two thousand miles away to go smoothly. She went to her computer and googled some figures about legally prescribed addictive drugs: antidepressants, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and methadone. In the US alone, methadone prescription and the treatment surrounding it was worth $43 million per year.

‘And that’s not mentioning the illegal trade, which could grind to a halt with a drug like this,’ she whispered out loud. ‘It could be an effective political tool against South America.’

Rob cottoned on to her train of thought. ‘And Afghanistan.’

‘Alexandros told Tilly Knight that George wasn’t a coke addict; he was experimenting on himself.’

An update on HOLMES interrupted them: Miranda Cooper’s computer was found to be still in her office, and had been seized. It was currently being scoured by experts. Kelly raised her eyebrows to Rob, who turned towards a noise at the door.

‘A visitor, boss.’ DS Umshaw poked her head around Kelly’s door. Kelly set her face into as warm a welcome as she could muster. Matt was standing in the doorway, smiling.

Kelly introduced her colleagues and took him around the office, introducing him to other members of the team, who’d already had the pleasure of meeting him on screen. She could see him scowling a little as he took in the silence, the calm, as well as all the scribbles on the whiteboard.

‘I think I’ll hold a brief now to get up to speed. We’ve had some more developments.’

‘I know, we’ve been keeping up to date.’ Kelly spoke with irritation.

The team stopped what they were working on and looked at their colleague from the Met. He strode to the front of the room and began barking out information. Kelly could see that they were struggling with his style, but they did their best to second-guess when he paused for effect or when he expected an answer. He spoke rhetorically a lot of the time.

‘The DNA on the plasma inside the shower unit is a billion-to-one match with George Murphy.’

He paused and looked around at the team.

‘Why aren’t you using iPads?’

Kelly spoke for them. ‘Our briefs are usually in real time, face to face, DCI Carter. We check the computer information regularly but use briefs as an opportunity to swap ideas and chew things over, as it were.’ She smiled. If her team questioned her use of his title rather than ‘guv’ or ‘boss’, they didn’t show it.