The mother paused. It was difficult to work her position out over the phone, and Kate decided to jump in her car. The girls both lived a stone’s throw away from her place and she was heading home, to avoid the worst of the weather closing in all over the Lake District.

‘She’s been skipping school. Is that what this is about?’

Kate heard fear in the mother’s voice.

‘I tell you what, I’m not far away, I’ll head over and we’ll have a chat,’ Kate said. She gave the mother just enough time to utter a semi-response, and hung up. She grabbed her bag and thick winter coat and turned off her computer. Rob was still at his desk.

‘You should head home; the snow is settling,’ she said to him, aware that he was spending long hours at work, and she understood why. He had a one-year-old at home, and an exhausted pregnant wife. He would rather be here. She got it. She laid one hand gently on his shoulder. He looked up from his work. She glanced at his screen, which was full of numbers and spreadsheets.

‘What you up to?’ she asked.

‘Offshore accounts and shell companies owned by Tactika. He was a clever guy.’

She knew he referred to Bartholomew Kennedy-Craig.

‘Legal?’ Kate asked.

Rob nodded. ‘All of it. Stinks to high heaven, but legitimate. The boss said that the data from the phones retrieved from the crash site is ready to go through first thing; maybe it will shed some light on what’s missing in this lot,’ he said.

‘What do you mean?’ Kate asked.

‘He’s cleaner than clean, despite what the press is saying. The boss said there were six mobile phones in the helicopter. Who knows who they belonged to but it’s my guess that anyone with an empire this big would have a couple at least.’

‘And with a bit of luck we might find out why they were together in the first place,’ Kate said. ‘You going to be long?’

‘I’m on a roll. You go,’ he smiled at her.

‘You know a couple of weeks ago, it was snowing like hell, like tonight, and I was working late, I thought I might get trapped here and have to stay. I brought a sleeping bag and pillow in,’ she said.

He looked up at her and waited.

‘They’re under my desk, just in case,’ she added, and walked to the lift.

Chapter 42