She gave him a subtle affirmative nod. The only way to tell him what she wanted to say.

Just go with it, Steve. There’s no other way.

Hale turned back to Rogers.

‘Sir, if we proceed on the basis that Burrell ordered Ferris’s murder, that still leaves the actual killer.’

‘It does.’

‘Then am I allowed to continue my investigation into him? Into whoever actually carried out the job?’

‘As long as it isn’t suggested that he worked for someone other than Burrell, you mean?’

‘Of course, sir.’

‘In that case yes. It would look a little rum if you did otherwise, in fact.’

‘OK. Then I’m on board, sir.’ Hale had little choice. ‘How long until the press conference?’

FIFTY

‘So what do we know about him?’

James Elton sat at the head of the conference room table. To his right was Sarah Truman. To his left Nathan Benson. The room’s seventeen other chairs were empty.

Both Sarah and Elton wanted this conversation private.

Sarah and Benson had been working together for three hours, building on the little Michael had told Sarah. They had been productive, digging up information on Adam Blunt’s career with the Metropolitan Police. At the same time Sarah had found everything she could on Karl Hirst. At first it had been to satisfy her own curiosity, piqued by the effect the name had on Michael. But only at first.

They had already brought Elton up to speed on Blunt. The subject now turned to Hirst.

‘He was convicted of manslaughter, assault, blackmail and kidnap,’ Sarah answered. ‘Seventeen years ago. Longman was his judge and sentenced him to life with a minimum of fourteen years. Hirst served fourteen. As close as possible to the day. And despite what Michael told me this morning, it seems he was paroled on his first application.’

The revelation that Michael had been wrong had come as a shock. A shock that quickly turned to excitement. Hirst was a viable suspect.

But that’s all he is for now, Sarah thought, forcing herself to contain her own enthusiasm. Until I have more. He’s not going to be another Wisdom Penfold.

‘OK. Violent and sentenced by Longman. That ticks the boxes. But what’s the connection to Blunt? Was he the lawyer?’

‘Better than that,’ Benson offered. ‘Blunt was the cop.’

‘No shit.’ Elton smiled at Sarah. The story wrote itself. ‘And he headed the investigation, I take it?’

‘He did,’ Sarah replied. ‘His last case, in fact. Blunt quit the police literally the day after the conviction. No warning. Still a few years away from his pension.’

‘Anything that suggests why he’d do that?’

‘Not that we’ve found. At least not yet. But it’s damned strange. We’re looking into it.’

‘OK. So are there any problems you see with Hirst?’ Elton was testing Sarah’s judgement. He seemed concerned that yesterday’s conversation could make her careless. ‘Is there anything that says he might be a weak choice of suspect?’

‘The two things I’m sure you’ve already spotted from what I’ve told you, James.’ Sarah knew Elton well. She could anticipate what he would consider a problem. She continued. ‘The fact that he was released on his first application suggests he wasn’t violent in prison, and fourteen years is a long time to pretend at that kind of character change. So it suggests his violent streak was a one-off. Plus three years is a long time to wait between his release and the murder when the target is someone as old as Longman. Whoever killed Longman wanted him to suffer hugely, so why wait three years when he could have just died naturally any day and deny the killer that chance?’