Cooper had begun to drowse when there was a knock on the door and his sister-in-law Kate’s voice called: ‘Ben? Phone.’

He turned down the music and went out on to the landing, where there was a telephone extension.

‘Yes?’ he said.

‘It’s Diane Fry.’

‘Oh.’

‘Don’t sound so disappointed. I’ll try not to hog the phone line too long if you’re expecting one of your girlfriends to ring.’

‘Did you want something, Diane? As you pointed out before, it’s my rest day.’

‘Sorry, were you doing something important? I don’t know why, but I pictured you sitting in your bedroom on your own like a sulky teenager, with some awful music turned up too loud.’

Cooper felt certain she could tell that he was going red, even at the other end of the line. ‘If you’ve rung up just to take the piss, I’m going to put the phone down.’

‘Oh well, I thought you might be interested in the news, that’s all.’

‘What news?’

‘We’ve just pulled in your friend. Owen Fox.’

Cooper stared at the wallpaper. Its green swirls seemed to run together in a blur. He became aware of movements behind the door of his mother’s room, faint sounds like the stirring of an animal emerging from its nest.

‘You’ve got to be joking,’ he said.

Shortly into the meeting, DI Hitchens began to find himself on the defensive. He looked sideways at Tailby, as if wondering why the DCI had let him take the lead.

‘Cooper, the fact is that HOLMES was already showing up a link,’ said Hitchens.

‘But that’s just one of those things.’

‘With only one correlation, it wouldn’t be worth mentioning. But his name also came up in the earlier case. Look at this. There were plenty of vehicles seen in the area at the time Maggie Crew was attacked. But three witnesses reported seeing a silver Land Rover. Two of them were specific that it belonged to the Peak Park Ranger Service. We checked with the PPRS and identified the vehicle. It was the one that Owen Fox drives.’

‘It means nothing.’

‘It couldn’t be ignored when his name also cropped up in the paedophile enquiry.’

Ben Cooper had checked the action forms for the last few days. The allocator hadn’t followed up the Owen Fox link from HOLMES. So he must have taken the same view – that it was just like a police officer’s name cropping up more than once in an enquiry. It was inevitable; it meant nothing. Owen Fox was right there, on the spot, and he was bound to appear in the system.

‘We had to bring him in,’ repeated Hitchens. ‘We have to let people see us doing something.’

‘What about Roper?’ asked Tailby.

‘We’ll have him here in a few minutes.’

‘And have we let the Ranger Service know what’s happening?’ said Tailby.