‘And Matt? Why don’t we leave him here? Nobody’s going to find him and he certainly can’t shift under his own steam, even if he wasn’t tied up.’

Connor considered it, then nodded. ‘Only you’ll have to bring the Land Rover along. If his mates trek all the way in here, we don’t want to signpost the place with their own vehicle.’

‘You don’t think they would?’ Tilly looked nervously in the direction of the caves.

‘Unlikely. I’ll just ring the homestead, organise Sophie, then I’ll get Mercer out. Say nothing about Wilmot in front of him. Let him think he’s still got a winning hand.’

‘Do we?’ Tilly asked, deeply worried. ‘We’ve already got one dead man, possibly two if the sergeant . . . Wilmot can’t afford to just walk away, can he? It’s his job, his liberty, and he’ll know that you found the money, so he’ll have lost his share as well.’

‘Some of it,’ Connor corrected. ‘There’re more than two or three involved. They’d expect a better return than sixty thousand shared among ’em.’ He was dialling as he spoke and now his voice quickened, ‘Ah, Sophie. Connor here. Please listen carefully . . .’

Judging by the gabble that burst from the handpiece, Sophie didn’t intend to listen. Twice Connor attempted to stem the rush of words but without effect. Finally Tilly took the handpiece from him and barked, ‘Sophie! Shut up!’

There was half a second’s silence before Sophie said, ‘Tilly? What the hell’s going on? Where are you?’

‘At the caves – as Connor was trying to tell you. Is Luke okay?’

That started her cousin off again. ‘No, he’s not! He’s not properly conscious and his pupils are all wrong. He’s concussed, nothing he says makes sense. The doctor’s on his way. For God’s sake, what happened? Jesus, Tilly! Gerry’s in the cave and this time he really is dead! He’s been shot and—’

‘I know. By Matt. I was there when he did it. When’s the doctor due? Because you have to get out of the house, Sophie. All of you – I take it the professor came?’

‘He did, he’s here. He helped me . . . Why do we have to leave? The plane should be here in oh, half an hour, say.’