‘By the term “long game”, boss,’ Denyer said, ‘are you suggesting Rebecca Watkins has conned her lover, Eden, into moving her assets overseas and giving her access to them, with Eden believing she is secure in her relationship with Rebecca?’

‘I am, Emily, yes.’

‘But,’ Denyer said, ‘Eden doesn’t realize she’s been tricked – conned – and the woman she thinks is her future life partner, Rebecca Watkins, is about to run for the hills with her husband and scoop up all her assets?’

‘That’s what it increasingly looks like, to me,’ Grace said.

Glenn Branson, who had been silent for the entire meeting until now, spoke. ‘How much of any of this do you think Niall Paternoster was aware of, boss? I mean, if he and Rebecca were – are – an item, and he knew Rebecca had access to all Eden’s assets, why did he need to kill Eden? Couldn’t he and Rebecca simply have taken off, grabbed all the offshore money and had enough to start a new life somewhere else?’

‘Because she would track them down,’ Grace retorted. ‘If they ever wanted to live somewhere that recognizes international law, they’d never have been free of the threat of arrest.’

Branson nodded.

‘But,’ Grace continued, ‘are we making a dangerous assumption here?’

He had everyone’s attention.

‘Rebecca Watkins is an interesting character. Let’s look at the possibility she has another agenda altogether. What if she and Eden Paternoster have agreed – conspired – that Rebecca is going to seduce Niall and become his lover? Eden is going to fake her disappearance, leaving a trail of evidence that frames her husband for her murder. She needs to appear dead for her plan to work, to be free of him and free of the risk of arrest when she and Rebecca attempt to start a new life together. But she realizes her plan hasn’t worked out quite as well as she’d hoped. The police don’t have the evidence they need to charge him with murder. So she panics, perhaps?’

‘Knowing the threats Niall made to kill her, boss, that she might have seen on his phone?’ Branson suggested.

Grace paused to clear his throat. ‘Indeed. Perhaps she’s desperate now, and maybe not thinking clearly – as we know, that happens when people panic and they do irrational things.’

‘Such as what? What are you thinking?’

‘I don’t know, I’m beyond second-guessing anything on this case. We need to be prepared for anything, which means we are going to need all our resources.’ Grace thought for some moments, looking at his phone, then said, ‘We need to be truly prepared for Thursday night, to see just what is going on. From what Sharon has helpfully told us of the conversation between Niall Paternoster and Rebecca Watkins in the pub, they’re expecting to find a quiet spot.’ He looked around at his team. ‘Everyone agree?’

Everyone did.

‘Are you making this a full-blown operation, boss?’ Branson asked. ‘Gold, Silver and Bronze?’