Lindsay stared out at the dark Pennine moors through a curtain of drizzle, pondering Sophie’s words. The lowering sky seemed to swallow the afternoon light, forcing drivers to switch on their headlights. “What you’re saying makes a lot of sense,” she said eventually. “But I don’t know where to start.”

“Speaking as a scientist,” Sophie said, “if I was looking at a condition that had remained dormant for a while and then had suddenly flared up again, the first question I’d ask is, ‘What has changed in the immediate past to provoke this?’ In other words, we should be asking not, ‘Why did Tom Jack keep his mouth shut all those years if he knew about or suspected murder?’ but rather, ‘What has happened to alter the situation? What is different from last week, or last month, or even last year?’ ”

“Point taken, but I think there’s a flaw in your argument,” Lindsay said.

“Now there’s a surprise,” Sophie teased.

Lindsay poked her tongue out at her partner. “Tom Jack may well have taken action nine years ago when he uncovered the evidence that Ian’s death wasn’t as simple as it appeared. Just because we can’t see what he did, it doesn’t mean that he sat on his hands. He could have acted in a secret, underhand way, presumably for his own ends.”

“That’s not a flaw in my argument, dear heart. In fact, it reinforces the point I was making. The crucial issue is what has happened to change the circumstances and turn Tom Jack into a threat. So what’s different, Lindsay? What are the new circumstances?”

“Well, there’s the merger for one thing. That went through with indecent haste, according to some. It all happened so quickly that there wasn’t a full audit of both unions’ finances before they took the irrevocable step of joining forces. Apparently, Andy Spence has been complaining that the JU was less than frank about its financial problems. And as usual, people have been muttering about hands in the till. But that’s nothing new.”

Sophie swung off the motorway and headed cross-country towards Sheffield. “Didn’t I read something in Conference Chronicle suggesting that the finances of the former JU were riddled with corruption? And that under Tom Jack’s leadership, AMWU was going the same way?”

“Yeah,” Lindsay sighed. “And it was probably not far off the mark. The other thing that’s changed, of course, is Tom Jack’s role in the union. In the past, he was a lay official who could shunt the blame for any financial irregularities at the door of paid officials. This time around, there would have been no hiding place for Tom. Unless, of course, he intended to make himself the hero of the hour by pointing the finger at the person who was creaming cash out of the union accounts.”

Chapter 12

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