‘Oh yes. But Terry’s worked with computers for years.’

‘And you, Mrs James, what do you do?’ he asked.

‘I look after the accounts. You could say I’m Terry’s general factotum.’ She smiled. ‘I work harder now than when I was employed by the University.’

‘The Fenland University?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Bella?’ A voice echoed down the hall. ‘What on earth is going on?’ A tall, bespectacled man with receding hair, accompanied by Dave, was hurrying towards them.

‘It’s alright, dear. These officers just want to talk to you. Let’s go back into the lounge.’ Mrs James led the way.

‘What is it you want?’

Nikki’s heart sank. This man, with the buttons on his jacket done up wrong, looked more like an absent-minded professor than a pornographic hi-tech gamester.

‘Does the name Lyco, mean anything to you?’ asked Joseph.

The man turned the corners of his mouth down and frowned. ‘Lyco? Can’t say it does.’ He swung around to his wife. ‘Bella? Have we a client with a name like that?’

‘Definitely not,’ she said emphatically.

‘Mr James.’ Cat stood up. ‘Would you mind if I take a look at your computers? You can come with me, of course.’

‘Be my guest. The older one has my basic designs on it, and Bella uses it for our invoicing and banking. The newer one has the finished articles, and a database of all my business accounts. There’s nothing on there that you can’t look at.’

‘Do you encrypt anything, sir?’

‘No need. There’s only my wife and I use them, and we have no secrets.’

‘Thanks. I won’t be long.’ Without waiting for Terry James, Cat slipped out of the room.

‘So what kind of company is this Lyco?’ asked Bella James.

‘It’s not a company, Mrs James,’ said Nikki. ‘It’s an alias for someone we want to talk to.’

The Jameses looked at each other with puzzled glances, then Terry James said, ‘And you think this Lyco person has used our company?’

‘If he did,’ cut in his wife, ‘he must have done it under another name.’

Nikki drew in a long breath. With every minute that passed she was closer to thinking that Cat had made a massive error over these people.

‘How big is your customer database, Mr James?’ interjected Joseph.

James thought for a moment. ‘We have about fifty clients in all. Twenty are main clients, who have had full web designs and follow-up maintenance. The rest are companies and individuals who have used us for consultancy or for troubleshooting.’

‘Could you let us have a printout of them, please?’

Bella James gasped. ‘Oh no, Sergeant. We hold our clients details in the strictest confidence. I don’t think it would be very ethical if we just handed information like that out, do you?’