There were absolutely no ANPR captures of the white Honda in its approach to Chieveley. It had not come down the M4 or A34, for which Chieveley was pretty much an intersection. It wasn’t impossible to approach on more minor roads, but you would have to know your way around. Those routes tended not to come up on satnav. The data Gillard had been sent only covered the day of the killing, so he logged on to the database and extended the ANPR range back a further two weeks, a few days before the vehicle had been purchased for cash. That did show some captures of the Honda’s number plate, but only two or three. Calling up the actual photographs, Gillard was able to see on one front-facing camera that there were two people in the vehicle. The one in the passenger seat had a large frizzy hairdo. Crystal Willow.

DC Rainy Macintosh made her way into the office for the start of her late shift. She waved a cheery greeting to her boss as she arrived at her workstation. She was walking a lot more easily now, and plonked herself down on her seat, rather than easing herself down carefully as she had done previously. He still hoped to persuade her to pursue charges against her ex. In the meantime he had something more urgent to talk to her about, and called her into the office.

‘How did you get on chasing down Crystal Willow’s relatives?’ he asked.

‘Those in the West Country were surprisingly co-operative. One farming family say they put Crystal and her boyfriend up for several months informally during lockdown. They parked the camper van behind one of the cow sheds and basically just stayed there, paying their way in cash. Oh, and Ozzy wasn’t going by that name. They knew him as Charlie, but the description matches.’

‘Have they any idea where she is now?’

Rainy shook her head. ‘I dinnae think the rellies were kept in the loop. They complained that they can’t even get through to the lassie on her mobile.’

‘What about the burner phone?’

‘Och, I think she must have a new one. We’ve nae trace. I also tried Rowena and Vicky Willow, and there are nae new numbers calling their phones. They’re as canny as a bunch of drug pushers.’

Gillard nodded. ‘We have some clues.’ He turned to his screen and opened an online map of Chieveley services, pointing out where the burned-out car was found, and the lack of ANPR signals for the Honda. ‘My thinking is that there was some kind of rendezvous at the services. I mean why else would you head for somewhere so busy, and with so many cameras, but avoid them all? The only answer I can think of is that Ozzy had gone there by arrangement.’

‘So he picked the only unobservable approach route?’ Rainy said.