‘You shouldn’t have told them anything. This makes it very difficult for the investigation. It was extremely unprofessional of you.’

Hancock wouldn’t make eye contact. ‘I think that’s a bit unfair. I can hardly not tell them why they are here for this dig. They’re volunteers, and they need to be motivated to get out here in the mud and the muck.’

Gillard had come across academics like Hancock before. All enthusiasm and no discretion. ‘All I can say Clive, is that now it seems it was a recent murder, you’ve given all and sundry every reason to go scavenging here.’

‘Craig, I can vouch for my volunteers. I’ve known all of them several years. Some of them, like young Rowena, are already very knowledgeable. They understand the importance of not disturbing a site of such historic significance.’

‘Maybe. But there are motives. If an Anglo-Saxon sword was discovered, how much would it be worth?’

‘Phew.’ Hancock squinted into the distance as if he had never considered such a question. ‘Well, it’s irrelevant really, because anything found here would belong to the Willow family, who own the land. Unless it was found with coins and deemed treasure trove, of course. If you found it you couldn’t keep it.’

‘There are always thieves, Clive,’ Gillard said. Like most cops, he was aware of his own cynicism, quick to discern the basest motives in humanity. Hancock, immersed in a scientific community which revered the Anglo-Saxon world, seemed to have the opposite problem.

‘Yes, but you wouldn’t get the full value unless it could be professionally restored, and its provenance confirmed. An Anglo-Saxon artefact is not like a stolen car. You couldn’t sell it on a layby to a passer-by.’

‘I’m absolutely certain you could. I mean, what would that Sutton Hoo helmet be worth?’ Gillard had done a little bit of his own googling on the subject of Anglo-Saxon finds.

‘It’s priceless, obviously.’

‘I mean we’re talking millions aren’t we? So even if the thief only got ten per cent of its value to a private collector, that’s quite an incentive. I can categorically assure you that there are not only bent collectors but bent valuers, bent auctioneers and bent restorers. Almost everyone has their price. And if it is the murder weapon, we as the police need to find it, before a criminal gang gets its hands on it. Are you with me now?’

‘I’m really sorry, Craig. But the cat’s rather out of the bag now, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, I’m afraid it is. Sheila Ransome rang me on my direct mobile today, saying you had given her my business card.’

Hancock scratched his beard. ‘She is rather relentless, so I gave her that to shut her up.’

‘Please, Clive, exercise total discretion from now on.’