‘Right. Excellent. Have we pieced together who George might have had contact with up here?’ Kelly knew he’d been thrown off guard, but she was enjoying watching him struggle, even if no one else could see it.

‘DS Umshaw?’ Kelly said. Kate was shaken from her reverie and began to speak.

‘We have a pretty solid timeline of events leading up to the murder. He regularly went to the small shop in Portinscale, and on Sunday morning he was reportedly in very good spirits. He also shopped in Keswick; we have CCTV of him entering several clothes shops and a fishing tackle shop.’

‘Have we examined who else was in the premises at the same time?’ Matt asked.

‘Yes, sir. On one piece of footage he’s seen paying at the counter and two men are standing behind him. One of them is Leo Brown.’

‘What’s the date?’

‘Saturday the first.’

‘So they were sussing him out. It proves planning and premeditation. Good. Feed that to the interviews in Shoreditch.’

Kelly nodded. She followed his gaze and saw that he was studying her whiteboard.

‘I see your drawings replicate HOLMES well. Who’s the artist?’ he asked.

‘Me,’ Kelly said. ‘Every time HOLMES updates, I add a new picture. We like it.’

There was a slight shift in the atmosphere, and Kelly filled the chasm. ‘I’ll log on now and we can get back to work. My team has been working flat out and I’d like to allow them to go home soon so they can have some kind of weekend.’

Matt gawped at her, but thought better of complaining. They finished up the brief and he expressed his satisfaction that they were all singing from the same song sheet. Kelly stifled her annoyance that he’d ever doubted it.

‘Is Allerdale House far?’ he asked. ‘I’d like to see where it happened.’

Kelly breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief.

‘Can I have a volunteer to accompany DCI Carter to Allerdale House?’ She was aware that their Saturday had dragged on, and she was expecting most of them in tomorrow. Emma would be back then, but it was Kate’s turn to have some rest and recuperation; she’d also said Will could have a break.

‘I’ll go.’ It was Kate who spoke, and Kelly smiled to herself. Matt would have to be on his best behaviour. She caught his glare out of the corner of her eye, but she gave him no opportunity to speak privately to her before Kate had her bag ready to leave.

‘I’ll call tech to ask if they’ve found out what was on Miranda Cooper’s computer yet- if anything,’ Kelly said. She watched them leave, then made the phone call.