‘Chief, in the Weston case, the fact is that there is only one person we can place anywhere near the scene at the time.’

‘Ah, the old story,’ said Jepson. ‘The first person that comes under suspicion is always the finder. Is that it?’

Diane Fry leaned forward. ‘Mark Roper,’ she said. ‘But he was there.’

Fry felt her superiors watching her closely. The pain in her leg drove her on like a spur.

‘He had plenty of time to kill Jenny Weston and do whatever he wanted to do before he reported that he had found her body. And he had scouted the area first, quite legitimately, so he had no worries about being observed.’

‘Obviously,’ said Jepson. ‘But what would his motive be?’

‘Well, there’s nothing obvious that we can see,’ admitted Fry. ‘But we’ve had some discreet enquiries made into his family background.’

Jepson raised an eyebrow. ‘Have we indeed?’ He looked at Hitchens, then at Tailby, but Fry was determined to keep his attention.

‘Three years ago, Mark’s older brother died and his father went off the rails. He started drinking and became depressed and lost his job. Frank Roper eventually walked out of the family home when he found out that his wife was having an affair. According to the neighbours, he hasn’t been seen in the area since. Mrs Roper promptly moved the boyfriend into the house, and Mark still lives with them. But he was very close to his father.’

‘This is a story no different from a thousand others, Fry. What are you trying to tell me? That Mark Roper has a grudge against women?’

‘We’ve heard much more incredible motives,’ put in Hitchens. ‘But this is simply background on Roper for now.’

‘OK. Weapon, then? What would he have done with the knife?’

Fry shook her head. ‘We don’t know. But he’s very friendly with the other Ranger, Owen Fox. He’s got a bit of a surrogate father there, from all accounts. Fox could be covering up for him. They could have concocted their story together.’

The Chief Superintendent was looking more and more unhappy. ‘We have an excellent relationship with the Ranger Service. Excellent.’

‘I don’t like it myself,’ said Tailby. ‘But we can’t ignore it. We need to look at elimination.’

‘All right, all right,’ said Jepson. ‘Could Roper have been the man Jenny Weston’s neighbours reported? How would he know where she lived?’

‘Oh, that’s the easy part,’ said Fry. ‘Weston’s details are recorded in the book at the cycle hire centre. The Rangers are in and out of there all the time. Either one of them would have had no trouble getting her address.’

‘All right.’

‘Not to mention the correlations the computer has thrown up. If it was anyone else –’

‘Yes, I know.’