Arrowsmith looked at Gillard and shook his head slowly: ‘I uncovered their little scam with Ozzy Blanchard. That’s why they came for me. Ozzy must have realised. They rang me a few times at home, and warned me to keep my mouth shut.’

He wanted to ask how the scam was constructed, but it was at that point that a nurse came in and asked Gillard to leave. What Arrowsmith had told him was a tenable motive, but there were other ways of making sense of the abduction. He’d keep an open mind. The sooner he got to talk to Ozzy Blanchard, the happier he would be.

Back at Mount Browne for the ten a.m. incident room meeting, Gillard was exhausted after the all-nighter. It seemed to have been Thursday for days already. He got to work updating the whiteboard. As he did so, Carl Hoskins approached, coffee in hand. ‘If Arrowsmith had died in there, I suppose he would have been interred.’

‘Yes, Carl. But as it was, he was only going through the motions.’

‘Aye, you’re a rare double act of poor taste,’ Rainy Macintosh said, as she pulled up a chair. ‘I’m surprised the poor wee hen wasn’t overcome by fumes in such a clarty place.’

‘Well according to the man himself, the flow release had been set on a timer, to gradually pump out the storm tanks,’ Gillard said. ‘When he was first put in there, it was only up to his ankles.’

Rainy blew a sigh. ‘Och, that’s evil genius. They knew how to punish the man.’

‘But for what?’

‘Arrowsmith reckons he’d uncovered a fraud, and when he held back the money they expected to be paid, they came for him.’

‘So it’s obviously the Ticketts,’ Rainy said. ‘They’re the contractors. They did the work.’

‘So it would seem,’ Gillard said. ‘I’d much prefer if we had a confirmation from an independent source of the nature of the fraud. And I’d really like to talk to Ozzy Blanchard.’

‘Aye, the Scarlet Pimpernel of the water industry,’ Rainy said.

Carl Hoskins scratched his head. ‘Pardon me if I’m being stupid, but how did the Ticketts know which person in Aqua Western signed the cheques, unless they’d already met?’

‘Maybe Blanchard told them,’ Rainy said. ‘Or maybe they read the signature. They can read, can they not?’

‘Or maybe they were all in it together,’ Carl said.

‘That’s certainly a possibility I favour,’ Gillard said. ‘Maybe we’ll find out later on. Arrowsmith is about to be released from hospital. Thames Valley Police are interviewing him at home later and I hope to be there.’

‘Och, his poor wee wife must be relieved.’

‘I’m sure.’ Gillard broke off to answer a call. It was DCS Stella Anderson.