“Alice Parry was leading the campaign against the development,” Ramsay said. “There was a protest meeting in the village on Saturday afternoon and on Saturday night she was killed.”

“Henshaw’s a powerful man,” Robson said doubtfully. “He can get his own way without violence. At least he can these days.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Robson said. “ You’ll have checked his record. I don’t know whether he was ever convicted, but when he first started out he had a bit of a reputation as a hard man.”

“No,” Ramsay said. “He was never convicted.”

“He must have been a clever bugger even then,” Robson said.

“As he’s not got a record,” Ramsay said, “ you’ll have to tell me what he got up to.”

“He always liked a fight,” Robson said. “So I understand. I never knew him then. He was still operating out of Newcastle. The story goes that he hired himself out to local businessmen who wanted to collect debts without the trouble of going through the courts. He was a big man. If he turned up on your doorstep, you’d soon pay up.”

“How did he start up in legitimate business?”

“He bought in to an existing building firm,” Robson said. “ George Saunders and he were partners for a while, but Henshaw was soon running the business single-handed. Saunders was too much of a gentleman to survive against him.”

“You say Henshaw’s a powerful man,” Ramsay said. “Has he any influence over the planning committee? I understand he has an unusual success rate with his applications.”

Robson did not answer immediately. He chose his words carefully. “I don’t know,” he said. “I wouldn’t have said so. I wouldn’t put it past most of them, and it is surprising how he’s managed to push his plans through the system, but in most of the cases the plans were rejected by the council and only approved on appeal by the inspector.”

“I suppose,” Ramsay said, “that the Department of the Environment inspector is incorruptible.”

“I don’t know about that,” Robson said, “but I wouldn’t have thought Henshaw would have had any influence there.”

There was a silence.

“So how does he do it?” Ramsay asked, frustrated. “ Is he just lucky?”

“Henshaw’s always made his own luck,” Robson said.

“I doubt whether he’s changed now. Do you want me to find out for you? I’ll talk to a few people. See what I can come up with. I’ll get in touch.”

Again Ramsay was touched by Robson’s eagerness to help.

“Yes,” he said. “ Do that.”

But he left with no hope that the conversation with Robson had achieved anything.

Chapter Nine