Detective Sergeant Martyn Stratford would run the Enquiry Intelligence Cell as the Intel Manager supported by their own staff.

Grace went on to detail the situation leading to the purported disappearance of Eden Paternoster, his and Branson’s subsequent visit to the Tesco store earlier, followed by their interview with her husband at the family home on Nevill Road. And then the bombshell, from Aiden Gilbert, about the time and date on the photograph Niall Paternoster had claimed had been taken yesterday afternoon, but which in fact had been taken over a week earlier on Saturday 24 August.

‘As a result of this,’ Grace continued, ‘I asked Velvet Wilde to extend the plotting of both of their phones back to that day, and Aiden’s findings verify this. Both their phones travelled together from their house in Nevill Road to Parham House on the afternoon of Saturday August the twenty-fourth, spending about three hours there before returning to Nevill Road.’

He held up the printouts from the plots of Niall and Eden Paternosters’ mobile phones that Wilde had sent him. ‘I’ll pass these round so you can see for yourselves.’

He allowed the team some moments to absorb all of this and to circulate the printouts. Several of them scribbled details in their investigators’ notebooks.

DS Alexander raised his hand. ‘Sir, what car or cars do the Paternosters own?’

‘They share use of a BMW Three Series convertible,’ Grace replied.

‘A recent model?’

‘I took a note of the registration,’ Branson interjected. ‘It’s a two-year-old model.’

Alexander nodded. ‘I’m pretty sure these have in-built satnav. Perhaps worth having the Collision Investigation Unit take a look at it and interrogate the satnav – and the car’s computer system. They’d almost certainly be able to establish its movements over the past couple of weeks.’

‘Good point, Jack,’ Grace said, making a note. He looked around his team and settled on DC Soper. ‘Louise, your husband knows a thing or two about BMWs, doesn’t he?’

She smiled. ‘A little.’

‘Done a bit of racing in them, right? I’m sure some of it’s rubbed off on you – I’ll give you the action of getting the satnav checked out by the Collison Investigation Unit, as Jack suggests.’

‘Of course, boss,’ she said.

‘I’m sure some of you are thinking “overkill”,’ Roy Grace said. ‘Surely this is just a case of a wife who has, for whatever reason, legged it, perhaps with a lover, like a thousand partners, of all genders, before her? But I think this is something more and very serious for a number of reasons. Firstly, Niall Paternoster told us his wife seldom went anywhere without her phone charged and she was always using social media. And yet on the day he tells us she disappeared, he claims her phone had either died or was switched off. In my view, that’s a little too convenient. Especially when put together with his lie about when the photograph was taken. I’d like to hear any of your opinions.’