‘It’s about Ozzy Blanchard, ma’am. I’m looking for evidence he might still be alive, seeing as we haven’t yet got an ID on the body. The usual thing: have his credit cards, bank account and so on been used?’

‘No. As of yesterday morning, the only payments from his account were the usual standing orders and direct debits, and withdrawals by his wife from their joint account.’

‘So he could well be dead,’ Gillard said.

‘That’s a reasonable opinion,’ Anderson responded. ‘However, my feeling is that our Ozzy is a lot brighter than he gets credit for.’

Gillard sighed. That could mean a number of things. ‘Ma’am, I really do need to know what the nature of your inquiry is. Are you examining a fraud at Aqua Western? If you shared information with me, it would save a lot of time.’

‘Craig, I wish I could. There is something a lot bigger going on here, and I don’t yet have the authority to bring you aboard. However, matters are moving apace and I predict that in a couple of days you will no longer have to worry about Ozzy Blanchard in your inquiry.’

‘You mean that you think he’s still alive?’

‘I’m not saying that.’

Gillard stared at the ceiling in frustration. He knew that he would have to go to his own boss to get Anderson to release more information. But Radar Dobbs was clearly no match for Stella Anderson, even though they had the same rank. ‘Then what are you saying, ma’am?’

‘I’m sorry, Craig. I shouldn’t have said anything.’ She hung up.

Gillard slammed the phone down so hard that both Rainy Macintosh and Claire Mulholland looked up. He stopped swearing and waved his apologies across the open-plan office. As he did so his mobile pinged with a text from the lab alerting him to the results from the Hemel Hempstead DNA check.

He swiped straight through to his emails, and speed-read the results.

There was a match. DNA extracted from hairs on the comb found on the body matched three different samples from footwear and clothing belonging to Ozzy Blanchard at his home.

‘Yes!’ he shouted, and punched the air. The same two faces looked up from across the office. ‘We’ve got a positive ID on the body,’ he called across to them. ‘It is Blanchard.’

The two female officers came over, leaving Hoskins deep in some phone call.

‘So what’s next?’ Claire asked.