‘Enough for them to kill her. Right,’ nodded Ben.

‘Another big part of the mystery is how they knew where she was,’ put in Clovis. ‘Were they watching the house all night, waiting for a chance to get in?’ He looked at Thea.

‘It’s a horrible thought. It makes it more or less my fault – going out like I did, leaving the front door unlocked. I really made it easy for them, didn’t I?’

‘You keep saying “them”,’ Ben observed. ‘Do the cops think there was more than one person?’

‘They haven’t said. I guess I mean it just as a blanket word for “he/she/they”. For all I know, a woman on her own might easily have done it. Apparently, it’s just a matter of knowing where to press, and keeping hold for 283a few seconds.’ She shivered. ‘The poor woman might never have known what was happening.’

‘I think it takes long enough for the victim to realise they’re in trouble,’ said Ben, with a ghoulish expression. ‘And to kick and scratch and shout a bit, as well.’

‘So – for maximum efficacy, you’d want two people,’ said Clovis. ‘Don’t you think?’

‘Ideally, yes,’ said Ben, adopting the air of an expert. ‘But not necessarily.’

Clovis spoke up. ‘Of course, if there was a whole gang of them after her, that wouldn’t be a problem.’

‘Come on!’ Thea protested. ‘Even in Barnsley, people would notice a gang of Chinese traffickers marching into that house and out again, ten minutes later. Don’t let’s get silly about it.’

Before Clovis said any more, Thea noticed Ben’s expression. He was watching the older man with great attention, as if trying to read his thoughts. Clovis was obviously not happy at the way she’d spoken to him, but when she reran his words, she was even more certain she’d been right to challenge him. For the first time, she questioned why he was there at all, and how seriously he was taking their discussion. If she was reading Ben Harkness’s face correctly, he was wondering much the same thing.

‘Okay,’ said Ben, after a few moments. ‘I think I’ve got it now. Just − where’s the incident room? Who’s the SIO?’

‘I think it’s all being run from Cirencester. That’s where they interviewed me. But they’re so short-staffed 284it’s not being given very high priority. There’s probably just one detective constable on a computer, trying to track down who she was. That could take ages.’

Thea looked around at the people sitting at other tables, nervous of being overheard. They were only three miles from Barnsley, after all. There could be locals listening in. From what she was beginning to understand, most residents of these villages were related to each other. She spoke in a low voice, answering the young man’s questions as thoroughly as she could, all the while surprised at her own willingness to co-operate with him. There was something magnetic in his intense interest, that simply drew information forth. An underlying competence gave her a sense of reassurance. He did not waste breath on emotional outbursts or peripheral remarks. He made Clovis look amateurish, in fact.