There was silence for a few seconds as the four of them let this sink in. It was a touchy subject for Kelly and Johnny: what the human mind is capable of when it’s damaged. A suicide mission, if enough money had been promised to the deceased’s family, for example, was one thing they had to consider.

‘Suicide would make sense if it was flown straight into the mountainside. No one could pull off that spin on purpose,’ Lance said. ‘Look.’

They watched him type something into his phone and he showed them video footage of a particularly horrendous helicopter spin as a result of tail damage. It was simulated, of course, but the graphics were convincing.

‘Have you ever seen this before?’ she asked.

Lance looked at Johnny and nodded.

Kelly knew that this meant that he had and that it had been in the theatre of war. Of course, she thought to herself sadly. War makes excellent military instructors. The best.

He told them about what he’d seen and Kelly heard enough to convince her that these incidents were catastrophic, and virtually unheard of in a new Agusta AW139. Zoe agreed. But that didn’t prove anything. Zoe, like Kelly, was an investigator, and their first consummate rule was to assume nothing.

‘We’ve got a lot of work to do,’ Zoe said. ‘Have I got to climb back up that thing?’ she asked Kelly, meaning Scafell Pike.

‘No, there’s helicopters going up and down from behind the Wasdale car park, on a stretch of land that’s flat. They’re still taking up equipment.’

‘So why did you make me walk down?’ Zoe asked.

‘They were in between flights at the time, and I thought you’d appreciate the fresh air.’ The women smiled at each other.

Zoe excused herself as her phone rang. She wandered off to take the call and Kelly stretched. Her whole body ached. She caught Johnny staring at her, but then she remembered Lance. She flicked her eyes towards him to see if he’d noticed the frisson that had passed between her and her ex, but he hadn’t. He was staring down at his hands.

Kelly knew that the guy had demons of his own. She recognised the look, and the sloping shoulders. Or it could have been trauma from yesterday. Not likely. He’d seen worse. She knew it.

Zoe came back.

‘That was one of my investigators. Ladies and gentleman, we’ve got a cut hydraulics line up there.’

Chapter 26