‘The garage. We know it was rented by George. Why? Forensics have been through it and reported traces of chemicals not designed for anything other than a controlled environment. There was also residue of faeces of an animal not native to the UK. Namely the cyno monkey.’

Baffled glances travelled around the room and a photograph of a monkey came up on the board. The caption underneath read: Cynomolgus monkey, native to south-east Asia. Commonly known as the crab-eating macaque.

‘They were running a lab?’ An officer correctly deduced where Matt was leading them. He nodded.

‘I want to know why. Perhaps they found something lucrative, and Skarparis has run off to sell it to the Russians, killing his colleagues for good measure?’

‘But why steal an antique rowing boat, and why travel to the Lake District in the first place? Why not wait until George returned home?’ Kelly asked. She couldn’t help herself. Matt had drawn them all in, and she was taken back to years ago, when she’d found it as awe-inspiring as Emma did now.

‘A lab coordinator at Ravensword said she had a call from Skarparis yesterday morning enquiring about his colleagues. She said he sounded stressed. We’re checking the company’s CCTV and I think we go with releasing his photograph to the press. He’s Cypriot, isn’t he? Monitor the airports.’

‘Who found the bodies of Emily Wilson and Mike Hudson?’ Kelly asked.

‘A dog. The garage doors were ajar and it was attracted by the smell. When the owner went to look, he saw them.’

‘I used to live near there. There’s CCTV all over the place.’

‘Correct. It’s being checked. As is ANPR for both George’s road movements before he went up north, and Skarparis’s. We’re looking at the routes between all the victims’ residences and the available routes to Ravensword and the garage over the last six months.’

‘That’s a huge undertaking.’ Kelly appreciated the scale of such a task. It could take months. Matt nodded, as if to say: What did you expect? An irrational thought entered her head, and she stared back at him: was he hoping that she’d be in London for more than a week?