He looked at the caller and knew he had to take it. It could be the information he was seeking. He’d been requesting intel on DI Kelly Porter for months, and had slowly been gathering material on her. She was simply too good. He couldn’t be seen to stand out, and Porter was attracting attention from HQ for her outstanding detective work. She’d put away more criminals in the last three years than the rest of the serious crime department over the previous decade. It made him look incompetent. If she could waltz in here and flip the stats on their heads, then what had the rest of them been doing before?

The caller was his best contact in the Met. He was solid, reliable and prompt. He’d been a rookie under Ormond many moons ago and they kept each other up to date about any anomalies that might pop up in day-to-day policing.

‘Yes,’ he said loudly into his phone, as if the increased volume would bring welcome news. The knot in his stomach, however, told him otherwise.

‘There’s been some digging around the employment files of two of your boys.’

Ormond waited.

‘The searches came from a fixed computer station at Eden House. This morning, one of them confirmed they were done from the computer of DI Porter. There’ve also been questions asked at the Preston depot by a DC Emma Hide. In addition, a police production order has been requested to acquire a file at a solicitor’s in Manchester regarding Keira Bradley. It has been granted.’

Neil ended the call. He slammed his driver into his new Ping golf bag, and set the caddy to auto. It set off like R2-D2 and trundled alongside him towards where he thought he’d fucked up his shot. He fiddled with his glove and looked up to the sky, as if the heavens might provide an answer as to why a junior upstart might be checking on his business. She was even better than he’d thought.

He was ashamed of his behaviour last night, but only because it had probably alienated Tom. He’d made a fool of himself. He should have got Porter on board when she first came to Cumbria, but he knew that was an impossibility due to her incorruptible damn morals. That was why he’d planted Will: to keep an eye on her. But the young officer had grown soft and warmed to his new boss. He could see it and it was time to do something about it.