They had photographs of the families of the deceased up on the incident board back at Eden House, and Kelly had become familiar with the sultry good looks of Fabian Kennedy-Craig over the last few days. She was interested to meet this young man in his twenties with all that power at his disposal, now his father was out of the way. There was one thing she was sure of. If Paul Edderbridge had anything to do with the plan to sabotage the helicopter – and this she found unlikely, given Paul’s known substance abuse and volatility, as well as his glaring lack of intelligence – then he had no obvious motive. Which only left one suggestion: that it was somebody else’s plan, and he was paid to carry it out.

She parked her car and slid her thick coat on to walk to the hospital entrance, where Fabian had said he’d wait for her in the hospital cafe. She spotted him straight away. He jarred against his surroundings, like a shiny new penny in a shitpile. He was pristine in his long wool coat, with its turned up and tailored collar, snugly fitting his broad shoulders like a second skin. His shoes were shiny and unwrinkled and his hair was lush and strong, glinting auburn like her own. He spotted her too, and she noticed his dark eyes kept their gaze on her, unwavering in any other direction. He was tall and Kelly looked up to him when they got close enough. He held out his hand and smiled, but Kelly saw pain behind his eyes. She’d met enough criminals to know that acting was a close bedfellow to breaking the law, and she reserved judgement of the young man who took her breath away.

He could be a killer, based on 17 billion reasons.

‘Kelly, it’s a pleasure. I know you’ve been working tirelessly to investigate my father’s death. You seem to be the only one in the country who cares,’ he said, smiling broadly, maintaining iron-clad eye contact.

She reciprocated, not looking away. ‘You’re welcome. We’ve made much progress. I see you’ve got a coffee and a pastry, shall we sit and talk?’

Kelly noticed stares from other patrons of the small cafe, and she realised they must stand out. They were well dressed, businesslike, and healthy.

‘Let me at least buy you a coffee first,’ he said.