It was clear she was getting no insight from Caroline. ‘OK, thank you,’ said Bloom. ‘One last thing. There was a picture of a blonde woman in her fifties on Julian’s noticeboard. Do you know who this could be?’

‘That’ll be Isobel. She’s married but she and Julian have had a thing for years now. It’s all very French.’

Bloom thanked Caroline for her time and hung up. Julian Peterson was having an affair with another man’s wife. It was unlikely that a cuckolded husband would resort to such levels of torture, but she knew not to ignore an alternative hypothesis. In her experience, people never failed to surprise you.

41

Jameson ate a banana as Bloom talked him through her suspicions. She wanted him to investigate Operation Weald a bit further. ‘It’s well within the timescale of Harry’s memory loss and I can’t help thinking that migrants postcard is a clue.’

‘Where’s the controversy?’ Jameson discarded the banana skin into the waste basket. ‘It was a humanitarian mission and a successful one at that.’

‘To help or to hinder. Perhaps Harry hindered someone’s activity: one of the people traffickers, for instance. I expect they’re not all opportunistic individuals; some will be organized businesses. The kind of people who don’t appreciate you hindering their lucrative operation.’

‘Of course. But why wait two years to shut Harry up?’

Bloom pondered this as she opened Julian Peterson’s Facebook page on her screen and began searching for a woman called Isobel. There were no female friends by that name. But that made sense if she and Julian were having an affair. She inserted a link to Julian’s Facebook page into an email and sent it to Lucas George. Maybe he could find some online contact between them. ‘Julian Peterson was having an affair with a married woman,’ she said when Jameson looked over to see what she was doing.

‘The plot thickens,’ said Jameson.

‘Doesn’t it always?’ She turned back to face him. ‘Can we speak to someone who worked with Harry on Operation Weald?’

‘I’ll see who I can find, but I think it’s unlikely.’

‘You’re right,’ she said and Jameson raised an eyebrow. ‘That it doesn’t make sense. If Harry stood in someone’s way, or witnessed something they’d done, waiting two years to shut him up would be risky, as would wiping his memory but keeping him alive. They couldn’t be absolutely sure that he wouldn’t remember something.’

‘Discrediting him might be enough.’

‘Placing doubt on his recollections?’

Jameson nodded.

‘But, still, why wait two years? Harry has been living his life in full view of the world. He would have been easy to find.’

‘So why now?’