‘God, Dan, when do you ever do that? Besides, this way, he paid less in tax, and the owner won’t sell,’ Emma told him. She’d been the one who talked to the PA.

‘The owner is also the housekeeper, I guess she likes to keep an eye on the place. She lives in a private residence on the estate, and she keeps the main house ready for whenever Kennedy-Craig fancies using it,’ she told Dan as she concentrated on the winding road, and he looked out of the window.

‘More money than sense,’ Dan said.

‘Obviously,’ Emma agreed.

‘How the other half live,’ Dan said.

‘Any more clichés?’ Emma asked. ‘Are you just jealous?’

‘Damn, yes,’ Dan said in his broad Scottish accent. ‘Why don’t we get invited to stay in plush pads along here, eh?’ he asked.

‘Because we’re not important enough, I guess.’ She concentrated on her satnav, which wanted to take her down a dirt road, but she ignored it and relied on good old-fashioned map-reading skills instead. She’d looked on Google Maps before leaving Eden House and she knew that it was one of the turnings near Aira Force, but they were all tucked away. And that was the point. Privacy cost money.

‘The owner is expecting us, then?’ he asked.

‘Yes, she was a bit shaken. She said she’d known the man for the best part of a decade.’

‘Good, she should be able to enlighten us, then. Did you ask her if Lord Reilly was a regular guest?’

‘I was saving that little nugget,’ she replied. ‘Officially, all the delegates for the conference were checked into the Glenridding hotel,’ she reminded him, ‘but of course he wasn’t there Sunday night, and he seems to have stayed elsewhere for the duration of the conference. Are we heading over there?’

‘After we’ve finished here,’ he said, as Emma turned off and drove between two stone pillars, and the trees opened up to a clearing with a stone wall, and a stop sign next to an intercom. There was barbed wire on the surrounding fences and cameras too.

‘Exclusive,’ Dan noted. ‘Those cameras might come in handy,’ he added.

Emma put the car into park and got out to walk to the intercom, pressing the bell. A female answered and she recognised the voice as that of Nellie Lowther, whom she’d spoken to on the phone. A buzzer sounded and the metal gates opened slowly. She went back to the car and drove through them, as they closed behind the car. The road wound further for about two hundred yards and then the trees opened up once more and Emma pressed the brake.

‘Jesus.’ They both looked at the huge, castle-type mansion.

‘I’ll have to ask them how much it is for a night, and we can check in,’ Dan joked.

‘I don’t think we could afford an hour,’ Emma said.

‘Is that an offer?’