Branson looked at him, for a moment wondering if he was being serious, then wised up. ‘Maybe you should ask him on my behalf, boss?’

Grace pointed to his neck with his forefinger. ‘You know what? I prefer to keep this attached to my head.’

Branson smiled. ‘So we have a potential history here of our friend, Paternoster, dispatching someone with no trace – you think?’

‘I’m suggesting the mantra of all experienced financial investigators, Glenn. Follow the money.’

Branson nodded. ‘OK, so what we know is that Niall Paternoster is struggling, with a failed business, and making a small living as a taxi journeyman, driving a mate’s taxi during unsociable hours. After returning to the UK from Australia he met, charmed and married Eden, who – maybe coincidentally – has a house worth over half a million quid, plus a fair stash of cash. And now he’s offed her? Am I on the right track?’

Grace nodded. ‘That’s how the evidence is looking.’

‘Apart from his body language, boss?’

‘Apart from that – which we know is only an indication,’ he replied, then continued, ‘We made the decision as part of our interview strategy not to ask him specific questions about what has been found at Ashdown Forest. They’re still searching there and we’re waiting for DNA results. He already said in interview that he didn’t leave the house in the early hours of Friday morning, but we know the BMW was at the forest. The camera images don’t help us as to who was driving. We can ask him questions in due course and he may not pick up about the police search activity there. You never know, he may return to that area and with any luck our people will be behind him. So let’s summarize what we have so far in addition to that evidence.’

‘OK,’ Branson said. ‘Three key issues.’ He raised a finger in the air. ‘First, we’ve established he may be lying about the cat litter and the photograph.’ He added a second finger. ‘The forensics against him at the house don’t look good.’ He raised a third. ‘He has a motive, but now we have the potential sighting of Eden, his wife, on the Isle of Wight hovercraft.’

‘Your priority,’ Grace said, ‘is that sighting. Throw everything at it.’

‘We always get loads of sightings of mispers, and 99.9 per cent of the time they turn out to be wrong,’ Branson said.

‘I’d be happier if we’d seen Paternoster clearly lying just now, but we didn’t. It would help us move forward one way or the other to either verify or dismiss that sighting PDQ.’

‘Understood.’

‘In the meantime, see if we can organize a surveillance team. Regardless of the possible sighting, I want Paternoster watched from the moment we release him. Killers often behave suspiciously or return to the deposition site, either out of some macabre curiosity or to make sure the site hasn’t been disturbed.’

‘Understood and will try.’

There were only two Surveillance Teams these days, and they worked with both Sussex and Surrey police forces. And they were kept busy. Both detectives knew they’d be lucky to get one.