‘Ah, it’ll be fine.’ She walked to the window and peered out. She checked her watch and glanced at the whiteboard, connected to the laptop on the desk, ready for the brief about the CCTV, newly installed at Aira Force car park. A spate of robberies of the parking machine had resulted in the National Trust’s decision to pay for CCTV in several car parks, and as always, it worked to the advantage of the police. That stretch of road along Ullswater was dark and narrow. At least they stood a chance of catching some number plates off vehicles travelling towards or away from Laurie Fell on Sunday night and Monday morning. Kelly sat down to study the footage that had been ploughed through by a uniform downstairs, over the last few days. As she sat studying the list of VRNs, members of her team drifted towards the large conference table and placed mugs of coffee and bottles of water down, alongside pens and pads. When she was happy everybody was ready, she drew their attention to the stills isolated by the technical team.

‘Of course, the CCTV here on the A592 only captures traffic travelling east and west from this point; it doesn’t tell us who might have arrived from the Pooley Bridge end of the lake. However, we’ve got some interesting hits, as you can see. Kate, can you get the lights?’ she asked.

Kate flicked the lights off and the team waited in silence.

‘Here, we’ve got a taxi coming from the west, and we’ve identified one of the pilots in the passenger seat. The taxi firm has been contacted, and they’ve confirmed there were two passengers, another male,’ she said. The team watched as she played footage from Saturday.

‘The time is one forty-three p.m. so this fits with the WhatsApp messages sent to the girlfriends. We have to assume that they weren’t worried about the helicopter being hangared outside overnight, else they would’ve flagged it up. The AAIB have also confirmed that it’s normal practice, as long as the correct equipment is used, and they’ve established that it was.’

Kelly went on. ‘This is Lord Reilly, travelling east from Glenridding towards Laurie Fell, at seven twenty-three p.m. on Saturday, in the passenger seat of a government vehicle. This is the same car returning Sunday morning, presumably for conference engagements, which we have confirmed he attended, then here he is travelling back again. There is no footage of him travelling back to Glenridding on Sunday night. So we have him present at Laurie Fell on Monday morning for the helicopter flight.’

She allowed people to get their heads around the details. ‘Now, this one is the most insightful, I think.’ She flicked another slide up onto the interactive board and enlarged the image. She saw Rob and Dan squint and lean forward. ‘Is that Chloe Granger?’ Dan asked.