Mathew’s got the all clear. They’re heading home in an hour.

‘Bevan,’ Jack said. ‘Find Sergeant McDermott for me please.’ It was seven o’clock and Jack wanted to be at the Barrowmans’ house by eight the next morning to interview Mathew. ‘She’s got twelve hours to teach me everything she knows about Game of Thrones.’

Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

At the station, Gifford was running the show. At the Barrowmans’ house, Jack was the one leading the investigation. And Oaks had stepped up to lead the charge on the streets.

An hour and twenty minutes away from Chipping Norton, in Newbury, DC William Oaks and DC Ronnie Davidson were arriving at a racing stables owned by the aptly named Steven Goodwin. The closer examination of CCTV from the Barrowmans’ home had revealed a safety label on the tailgate of the horsebox, with a code number on it that ultimately identified where and when it was given its annual once-over. Oaks had already spoken to Goodwin on the phone and he’d confirmed that three days earlier, he’d rented a three-horse trailer to a Mr Smart. The trailer had been returned in the early hours of that morning and was now tucked away behind the stables waiting for Oaks and Davidson to take a look at it.

Oaks walked up the ramp of the suspect horse trailer. ‘Can you smell that? Disin-fucking-fectant. Jeez, Ronnie, the floor of this trailer has got less trace evidence on it than my bog seat.’ There were four other identical trailers in the main yard, all of which had been rented out to Mr Smart on numerous occasions over the previous three years. He always paid in cash and the keys were always left underneath a wheel arch, as he always collected and dropped off in the early hours.

As Goodwin approached, Oaks tried to hide his disappointment. He didn’t want Goodwin thinking he’d done anything wrong by cleaning the trailer so thoroughly, but Goodwin realised his mistake. ‘I’m sorry,’ Goodwin started, ‘if I’d known, I’d have left it as it was. But it’s booked out again this afternoon, so I . . . I cleaned it about an hour before you called.’ Then he quickly added that he’d of course cancel the afternoon booking and the trailer would remain where it was until Oaks was done with it. ‘It smelt of petrol,’ Goodwin said, desperate to make up for destroying all of their evidence. ‘And there were muddy tyre tracks inside.’

Oaks shared their suspicions that one of the gang rode a motorbike. ‘Yes, they could have been motorbike tracks,’ Goodwin agreed. ‘But there were also double tracks. Like a quadbike.’

Davidson stood in Goodwin’s yard, holding his mobile away from his ear. ‘A fookin’ quadbiiike!’ Gifford’s Midlands accent came to the surface as he ranted. ‘That means they had two recce vehicles, one of which can approach any property, over any nobbin’ terrain!’