‘Is there overlap with any of the cases identified yesterday?’ she asked. ‘On any of the three tables?’

‘There are two.’ The more focused search had required far fewer man-hours, which had allowed Sally Ryan to take on the case analysis alone. ‘One from table one. And one that met all of the criteria and made it to table three.’

‘OK, then let’s begin with a quick look at the four that don’t overlap,’ Levy instructed. ‘We’ll make sure they don’t deserve further scrutiny before we move onto the prime suspects. Tell me about them.’

‘None of them are criminal cases, ma’am. And none of them involve anyone with any criminal convictions, or even any suggestion of violence.’

‘Then what are they?’

‘Three High Court disputes, all property related. Blunt’s firm had a fairly busy property department. The fourth was an application for a press injunction on a minor sex story.’

‘OK, so no violence. What about bad blood? Did Blunt or Longman do anything controversial in any of those cases?’

‘No, ma’am. In fact, all four of them ended in favour of Blunt’s clients, so none of them had anything to complain about at all. Turns out he was a fairly able civil lawyer.’

Levy smiled. Ryan really was efficient.

‘Then I think we can safely rule them out,’ Levy concluded. ‘At least for now. We still need the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed, though, so have all four spoken to.’

‘It’s already happening, ma’am.’

Levy smiled again.

A whole team of Sally Ryans and our clean-up rate would be a hundred per cent.

‘OK. Move on to the possibles, then. Remind me of the first one.’

‘The Arthur Hart case, ma’am,’ Ryan replied. ‘The domestic murder where the husband just seemed to snap.’

‘I remember.’ Levy replayed the briefing in her mind. She recalled every detail. ‘The facts of that one still don’t ring true to me, but we can have someone pay him a visit today.’

Levy’s eyes shifted to the second of the two files. She could already tell that it was Ryan’s pick.

‘And our friend from table three?’

‘That’s the interesting one, ma’am.’ There was a hint of excitement now in Ryan’s voice. ‘He’s a real nasty piece of work.’

‘What’s his name?’

‘He’s called Wisdom Penfold, ma’am.’

Ryan waited for the name to sink in. She did not wait long.

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Is that a name change? Deed poll?’

‘No, ma’am. It’s his given name.’

‘Seriously? No wonder he turned out nasty.’

‘He certainly did, ma’am.’

‘OK. Tell me about him. What’s the case?’

‘As you’d expect from table one, it was another murder. A commercial deal that went bad. Seems Mr Penfold saw himself as a bit of an entrepreneur. Buying and selling cars, land, industrial goods vehicles. Anything, really. Provided it was expensive.

‘He must have been good at it as he made a lot of money. But it seems that on one deal he was duped. He sold a property – a piece of land – to a buyer, not realising that the buyer had secured building planning consent on the property without Penfold’s knowledge. With that consent the property was actually worth seven times what Penfold was paid. When Penfold found out, he arranged to meet the buyer in a local pub under false pretences. When the guy showed up, Penfold confronted him, they had a brief discussion and it ended with Penfold smashing a beer bottle and sticking the jagged end into the guy’s neck. In full view of everyone in the place.’