Cleaver’s dabs were, as expected, found all over the house where he lived, and on some of the books. A single thumbprint of his was found on the bloodstained book that he claimed he didn’t own. But that wasn’t the only dab found there. Rowena’s prints were on it too. There were plenty of hers in the house, particularly in the kitchen, but also on the metal frame of Cleaver’s bed. Rowena was his cleaner, but it was still tempting to jump to other conclusions. This wasn’t a direction Gillard wanted the inquiry to travel in. The girl was legal, just, and hadn’t complained. As far as the law was concerned that was the end of it.

Stewie Ransome’s prints were found downstairs, on a couple of door handles and in the shed, on the handles of various garden tools. On a few of those there were also prints from Vicky Willow and her partner Guy. Vicky’s thumbprint also turned up on a bottle of bleach under the bathroom sink.

‘There’s no smoking gun,’ Kirsty said. ‘Cleaver could easily have innocently handled the bloodstained book after the crime took place. What about Vicky Willow? Dabs not only on the garden tools but on the bleach.’

‘On its own it’s not incriminating either,’ Gillard said. ‘Vicky could have been employed part-time as a cleaner between tenants for her sister, and we know she did some gardening along with her many other part-time jobs. She might’ve roped her husband in.’

‘True. We’ve no prints from Rory Tickett,’ Kirsty said. ‘But maybe we’ll find some DNA.’

While they were discussing this, they overheard a radio message broadcast to the various uniformed PCs in the vicinity.

‘What was that?’ Gillard asked the female officer nearby, having caught the words ‘Aqua Western.’

She shrugged, and pressed the button to ask for a repeat from the control room.

Thames Valley Police just reported the abduction from home of Kelvin Arrowsmith, an employee of Aqua Western Ltd.

She acknowledged the message and glanced at Gillard. ‘Does that mean anything to you, sir?’

‘Yes, unfortunately it does. That man was Ozzy Blanchard’s boss.’

Gillard swore silently to himself. If only Stella Anderson had shared details of her inquiry into Aqua Western, this news might make sense. As things stood, it merely made everything more urgent. Could it be that whoever Ozzie was in hiding from had turned their attention to his boss? Nothing else made sense. Gillard didn’t doubt that Arrowsmith’s life would be in danger.

Chapter Seventeen