He grinned at her. ‘Our job, Kelly, was to investigate what brought that helicopter down, and you’ve done that. It was a cut hydraulic line, tampered with, we believe by Paul Edderbridge, who is now missing, and has been for five days. He was paid ten thousand pounds by Vivienne Kennedy-Craig to do the job, via George Fellows. That is it. You have done your job. The wheres, whys and wherefores are for the CPS to take up. Yes, meet with them. Yes, give them your findings. Yes, keep looking for Edderbridge, and build the case against him.’

Kelly went to interrupt and he held up his hand.

‘If you’re not going to apply for a transfer to child protection, then I suggest you put your effort where it’s best served, Kelly, and make the case against Vivienne Kennedy-Craig watertight. It’ll come out in court. That will be the day you get your reward for uncovering all of this.’

She didn’t have anything else to say. In the last week, since the death of Lord Reilly, and the arrest of Vivienne, Kelly had worked fourteen-hour days, and so had the rest of her team.

Fabian would stand against his mother as a witness for the prosecution. It was a massive win for the CPS, thanks to Kelly. George Fellows’s lawyers, paid for by Fabian, had managed to negotiate a reduced sentence for a guilty plea to the charge of transferred malice. He could get five years and serve two. Paul Edderbridge couldn’t be arrested or charged until he was found, and Kelly was more sure with each passing day that he was dead, either dispatched by George Fellows or somebody else hired by Vivienne. In interview, when asked about Edderbridge, George had stuck to his story that he’d last seen Edderbridge when he was caught trespassing at Laurie Fell. Kelly thought he was lying but couldn’t prove it. They had footage of him collecting something at an Amazon drop box but they couldn’t prove that was payment for a hit. All their evidence against him was circumstantial.

Vivienne was charged with murder, and with the absence of Edderbridge, it would be she who faced the full force of the trial by jury, because she’d pleaded not guilty. The woman was arrogant. She was also lacking in any form of integrity. She had pointed the finger at her manservant, giving a statement against him under caution, that he was the one who’d dealt with George Fellows and plotted the death of her husband. The employee, Terrance Over, denied all involvement with the plot, and was released on bail pending further inquiry. The case probably wouldn’t come to trial for a good year. The AAIB report was expected in the New Year.