Fabian Kennedy-Craig was the hope for the future of Tactika, and it was one way for him to atone for the wrongs of his father.

The death of Lord Reilly had been unexpected, and the staff of the intensive care unit took it badly. Losing a patient, despite their best efforts and his being given such positive prognosis after he woke up, was a shock. Kelly found it hard to find it inside herself to pass on her condolences to his family, but Abigail had surprised her with her commitment to the future. Regardless of whether her father’s actions were denounced and exposed in public, Abigail, alongside Fabian, was cooperating with the inquiry in full transparency.

Kelly waited for Chief Constable Harris’s answer. He sat back.

‘That’s correct, and you know it will all come out at trial,’ he said.

‘Sir,’ she said.

‘Have a good day, Kelly, and take some time off, for God’s sake. You’re sneezing your germs all over the place! Take the rest of the week off, at least, I insist,’ he said.

‘I’m heading home now, sir,’ she said.

She left his office and went back to her car. A week off was just what she needed, never mind an afternoon. Besides, she had a few things to wrap up – not least her telephone conversation, off the record, with Quentin St John, to finalise her account of why a member of Her Majesty’s cabinet used the opportunity of a climate conference to stay at the mansion of a paedophile. It was uncustomary for her to go against authority but she was sure that it was what she had to do. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t warned Andrew that the story would eventually break. After all, she could control the AAIB investigation, but not the British press.

Some things, in this game, were just out of her hands.

Chapter 63

It was the first time Kelly had been out in the Wendy for months. The small yacht was usually taken to dry dock inside a boathouse on the shores of either Ullswater or Derwent Water for the winter. Johnny had decided that this year, she’d be spending her hibernation at the sailing club at Ullswater’s southern point, near Glenridding. He’d unveiled her this morning and checked her over, making sure she was worthy of a short outing across the lake. It was cold but clear: one of the Lake District’s finest days.