Maggie felt oddly exposed as she walked into the incident room two hours later, as if her nerve endings were twitching for everyone to see. She wasn’t sure which of Gant’s bombshells had unsettled her the most – him quitting his position or Byford being foisted upon her by someone higher up the chain of command than him.

She sat down at her desk and surreptitiously leaned over to open Byford’s bottom drawer. It was locked. She made a decision: she would stay late until everyone else had gone home so she could break into it. Even if Byford came up with a perfectly plausible excuse as to why he hadn’t told anyone about the notebooks or submitted them as evidence, she wanted to see what was in them before he could. Suspicion that he was hiding something other than the notebooks themselves nagged away at her.

Staying late would mean cancelling her birthday dinner with Umpire. With a sigh, she called him to break the bad news. Fortunately he’d had enough birthday celebrations of his own cancelled at short notice because of work to not get angry.

‘There’s so much going on now,’ she said, cupping her hand over the mouthpiece so he could hear her. The room had suddenly got noisier with the return of Renshaw and Burton; Nathan, who was at a desk in the corner double-checking the typed-up statements he’d taken from the classmates and their teacher, gestured at them to pipe down.

‘I’ll cancel the booking,’ said Umpire. ‘I’ve heard there might be another body at the school site. Is that right?’

Bad news travelled fast.

‘Possibly. I’ll know more after the briefing. I am sorry about dinner.’

‘It’s not your fault. I feel bad because first Brighton and now this.’

Maggie smiled. ‘I think it’s a sign I should ignore turning thirty. Actually, there is one good thing that’s happened – Jude texted to wish me happy birthday.’

‘Really? That’s great he’s made contact.’

‘He said he misses me and wishes me and Lou would make up. I texted him back but he’s not replied.’

‘If he’s texted you once I’m sure he will.’

‘I hope so. I have to go now. I’ll miss you this weekend, but have a great time with the kids. Call me when you can.’

‘I will.’

As she hung up, Renshaw called her over to join her and Burton.

‘How’s Imogen holding up?’ she asked.

‘Not bad, although the family is concerned attention is being diverted away from Benji with the dog search. It might help if you go round to see her, reassure her.’

Renshaw nodded. ‘I’ll do that.’

‘When’s the excavation going to start?’

‘First thing tomorrow – we can’t get everything on site before then. So I’m afraid we’re all on call this weekend.’