‘Probably not, but I’ll get his phone log back first. My DI has tried to make contact.’

‘I hope your journey wasn’t wasted. It looks like you’ll be better off in London after all. I can clear up here.’

Matt looked at her. ‘It’s never a waste to see a crime scene. It is beautiful up here. I can see why you like it. Is Umshaw a handful?’

‘Erm, no, not at all, she’s an asset.’

‘I found her uncompliant and stand-offish.’

‘Matt, that’s how you find most people. We don’t kowtow up here. It’s all quite informal.’

‘I’ve noticed.’

‘We get the job done.’

‘I can see that. Let’s have a look at those documents. I want to see something that an interviewer can use before I order the arrest warrants. I can’t go waltzing into the Department of Health getting it wrong. For that, I’ll need the commissioner’s approval as well, and it’s Saturday, he’s probably on the golf course.’

‘Surely you have emergency access?’

‘It can be arranged. The important thing is that we’re right.’

‘OK, look. This is Dame Charlotte Cross, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Department of Health, KCMG.’

Matt raised his eyebrows.

‘She has an illustrious past, once holding the position of Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.’

‘Jesus, Kell.’

She let it go.

‘That’s only the beginning. There are pages and pages of dossiers and articles about the value of illegal and legal drugs to governments, especially the UK and US. Dame Charlotte authorised a study into the collapse of the Afghan economy when the US destroyed the poppy fields in the early 2000s, and the subsequent investment in the country that led to a revival of farming and a resumption of the opiate trade. It now accounts for something like ninety per cent of their GDP. The same is true in Mexico and Colombia, parts of Central America and the Golden Triangle between Laos and Vietnam.’

Matt watched her.