“No, don’t do anything to suggest you might be engaging with him at all, but let me know if he does. And if you still have his card I’ll take it from you.”

Reaching into his pocket he handed it over. “You realize a scoop for the Gazette is something I really need right now.”

“I do, and as soon as I can send one your way, I promise I will.”

DCI GOULD WAS a large man in his early fifties with a lot of presence and not much tolerance when it came to someone holding him up as he was leaving for an important meeting. However, as it was his favorite ex-DS doing the holding, he sat back down at his desk and waited as she closed his office door.

He listened carefully to what she was telling him, his blue eyes sharp and narrowed, and said nothing for a while after she’d finished.

“OK,” she said in the end, “I get that you probably can’t tell me if I’m right about Claudia and her family being the ones . . .”

“You’re right,” he assured her, “it’s them. I’m just trying to think of the best way to handle this. Have you tried getting in touch with this . . . What’s the name of the guy who approached Richie?”

Reading from the card, Andee said, “Miles Montgomery. I’m guessing he’s some sort of private investigator. Probably he’s working for Claudia’s husband or someone close to him.”

Gould’s eyebrows arched. “Have you called the number?”

“I thought I’d speak to you first.”

“Good. The less contact he has from anyone in this area the better. We don’t want him thinking that he’s stirring something up, or he’ll be straight back here. If he’s even gone away, and I don’t suppose we know if he has.”

“I’ve tried several hotels, but there’s no one staying at any of them with that name, which doesn’t mean much because he could be using Airbnb, or one of the hundreds of guesthouses. I talked to Fliss at the café, and a few other business owners. No one’s approached them, but again I’m not sure that means anything.”

Gould nodded slowly. “And no one’s spoken to Claudia about this?”

“Not yet. They’re crazy busy getting ready for Jasmine’s big night tomorrow so I’ve hardly seen her lately. Are you going, by the way?”

“I am, and I’m sure you and Graeme are. Maybe we can have a drink together beforehand?”

“Great, let’s do that. I’ll get Dan to join us as well. Claudia and Marcy will be too busy backstage. Anyway, how urgent do we think this is?”