The pub is filling up. As Perdue waits at the bar to put in their order, Naylor spots a couple of the journalists from the press conference amongst the shoppers and pensioners who’ve wandered in for lunch. Campbell’s new PA is here with a good-looking young man Naylor doesn’t know. She’s a pretty girl, well-dressed, not unlike Campbell’s last PA, the one who got him into so much trouble. He’d have been wiser, thinks Naylor, to have hired someone older, less of a temptation. Then she looks across at Perdue and catches herself thinking how good he still looks. When it comes to chemistry between two people, what does age matter?

Perdue waits for the coffees and carries them back to the table.

‘I know you have to get back to work,’ he says, retaking his seat. ‘A case like this with the world’s eyes on you, you don’t want to be caught taking long lunches.’ He tears the top off a packet of sugar and pours it into his cup, reaches for a second packet but leaves it on the table. ‘Old habits.’

‘You should go cold turkey,’ says Naylor, putting sugar in her own cup. ‘They say it’s the easiest way.’

‘What about that old coffee-maker of mine? Is that still going?’

‘Still fuelling the entire department. Working overtime most of the time. Makes a big difference, having drinkable coffee at three in the morning. That stuff from the machine gives me a headache.’ She takes a sip of her Americano. ‘So come on, Ron. What’s your interest with Evan Ferrers?’

Perdue sighs and sits back in his chair.

‘Something’s been niggling at me. Probably you’ve thought of it already, but for me the big question is, where were they heading?’

‘The filling station they called in at was on the way into Pontefract. Number plate recognition last picked them up on the M62 around Wakefield, travelling east, and we’ve first got them on the A61, southbound from Harrogate. Hard to say what their exact direction of travel was in Pontefract. Apparently at that filling station you can drive on to the pumps from either east or west.’

‘So what’s your take on it?’

‘We’ve asked West Yorkshire to make local enquiries, check car park CCTV and see if anyone remembers the vehicle parked anywhere in the area. Problem is, of course, where did their journey originate? That part of the world is a bit sparse on cameras, so it’s going to be a long, hard slog. Even if we’ve got an idea of the area where they started out, there are still hundreds of square miles to go at.’

‘Ah, well. Now you’ve hit the nub of what’s been niggling me.’

‘What do you mean, Ron? Come on, spit it out.’