‘So what can I do for you, detective chief inspector?’ Arrowsmith asked, coming to join Gillard on the low chairs by the coffee table. He had the broad conceited face of a tomcat, in command of his territory.

‘I want to ask you about Ozzy Blanchard.’

‘Is the body definitely him?’

‘We’ve strong evidence that it is.’

Arrowsmith shook his head. ‘This must be truly awful for Angela. The poor woman is trying as best she can to put her life together after he left, and now this.’

‘How long did you work with Ozzy?’

‘Well, he was one of six regional surveyors that reported directly to me, although I have fifty-two other direct reports in other roles. So although I knew him reasonably well, I can’t say I had much insight into his life outside work.’

‘What about his work?’

‘Ozzy had some good soft skills. You know we had all this trouble at Rissington Common? That dreadful woman, Sheila Ransome, even managed to find my home phone number somehow. She’s absolutely relentless, the typical one-issue campaigner.’

‘You’ve got to sympathise,’ Gillard said. ‘Your company was paid to manage the sewers and manifestly failed. The whole village is blighted by that.’

‘The official company position is to dispute that. But anyway, Ozzy went to their meetings, and for a long time he seemed to have it under control. Then about a year ago it all flared up again. I mean, you know what happened to me? I went down there, and this vicar who looks like a pirate cornered me, bellowing about all sorts of things.’

‘That would be the Rev Matthew Cleaver.’

‘That’s right. Quite a scary individual, if you ask me. When I got back to my car, someone had ripped the wing mirrors off. So I didn’t envy Ozzy dealing with them.’

‘Was he truthful, trustworthy and competent?’

‘In all my experience, he was, yes. He was methodical, hard-working and generally had a good eye for detail.’ The caveat was there, and Gillard picked up on it.

‘So what went wrong in phase one of the project at Rissington Common?’

Arrowsmith rubbed his chin. ‘A lot of it is quite technical, I’m sure it’s not of much interest to you.’

‘Indulge me.’

‘I’d love to, but if you are really interested, I think you’re going to have to go above my head to corporate. You probably think me terribly bureaucratic, but if this project fails to meet its regulatory benchmarks, the company will be fined a great deal of money. So I have to wait for a final assessment by outside auditors as to what extent it is deficient. It’s out of my hands. As I said to your colleague Stella Anderson, I can certainly copy you in when the final report is ready.’

‘When might that be?’