‘All right, we’ll secure a warrant later today and we’ll leave you to it. Thank you for the tea. Just one more thing – can you show us where the helicopter took off?’

‘I can do that, follow me.’

They went outside. Nellie showed them the rear of the property and it was even more spacious than the front.

‘I read the news, you know. Have you got anyone yet?’ she asked.

‘What do you mean?’ Dan asked.

‘Those protesters. They broke into the grounds and left graffiti. Look over there,’ she said, pointing.

Dan and Emma looked to where she was indicating. At the back of the property, and on the side of the house, was a message scrawled in pretty basic street art style, probably with spray paint: Tory Scum.

‘Nice. You see anyone?’ Dan asked.

Nellie shook her head.

‘CCTV working?’

‘Bart checked and they weren’t on it,’ she said, too quickly.

Dan was getting the distinct impression that Nellie had rehearsed some of her answers.

‘And when was this?’

‘Sunday night,’ Nellie said, then marched them across to a landing pad that was denoted by its flatness and a small rectangle of concrete. Emma took a photo of the graffiti. They looked around. There were plenty of huts and outbuildings close by and most of them were locked shut. They could also see that the property wasn’t overlooked by any others from here – or anywhere, for that matter. The lawn stretched down to the lake, and it boasted a boathouse and private jetty.

‘Did Mr Kennedy-Craig use the boats?’ Dan asked.

‘Sometimes,’ Nellie said.

‘Are there cameras in there too?’ he asked.

She shrugged. ‘I don’t go down there.’

She stood with her arms folded, waiting for them to throw what they had at her, and she was unflinching in standing her ground, utterly defensive. Some people reacted like that to the police, and rich people tended to employ people who were aware of how important their privacy was. Nellie was clearly used to keeping her mouth shut. But they needed a picture of her chief’s final movements. And she wasn’t giving them anything. And Emma was convinced that it wasn’t just because of nerves.

‘Were you here when it took off?’ Emma asked.

‘No.’

‘Don’t you work full time when the chief is in town, so to speak?’

‘I was busy cleaning.’

‘Did you hear it take off?’

‘No, I listen to music when I clean. Besides, I stay at my place over there,’ she said, pointing to a bunch of trees about three hundred yards away from the main house.

Dan wandered off, he’d had enough of the woman pretending she didn’t know who stayed in her own God damn house.

‘Oi! Where do you think you’re going?’ Nellie shouted at him. ‘I said you can’t look around without a warrant, now buzz off, both of you!’