‘She’s away in Devon, isn’t she Rowena? Lockdown wasn’t kind to her business, so she just shut up shop.’

Rowena glanced up at the detective, and nodded her assent.

‘Where exactly is she staying? Caravan parks and campsites have only just reopened.’

‘Dunno,’ said Rowena, staring down at her phone.

‘Would you pass me your phone? I want her mobile number, so I can give her a ring,’ Gillard said to the youngster.

‘It’s just changed recently, hasn’t it?’ Vicky said to Rowena, hurriedly pocketing her own phone.

Rowena called out a number beginning with zero seven. ‘That’s Mum’s new one.’

Gillard tapped it out on his own mobile. The call rang for a few seconds then went to an anonymous voicemail. As he’d suspected, Crystal wouldn’t answer a call from an unknown number. ‘Your phone too please, Vicky, unless you want me to get a warrant for it and search this place top to bottom.’

Slightly flustered, Vicky pulled out her phone. ‘I’ll just ring her now,’ she said. As the call rang out, she rested her eyes on Gillard’s. ‘Hi Crystal, no that wasn’t me. It was the police. They want to speak to you.’ Vicky passed the phone across.

‘Hello Crystal, my name is Detective Chief Inspector Craig Gillard. You’ve been rather elusive, haven’t you?’

‘I’m on holiday, that’s all.’

‘In your camper van, I understand. Where are you?’

‘Errm. Not sure exactly. I’m parked in a layby in Devon at the moment.’

‘Well, I need to speak to you in connection with the disappearance of your boyfriend, Ozzy Blanchard.’

‘I don’t know what you mean. He’s not… he wasn’t my boyfriend.’ She sounded rattled, tripping over what tense to use to describe him.

‘We’ll track you down in a couple of days, so you might as well come back. You’ve some very serious questions to face.’

‘I hear you’ve found his body,’ she replied eventually.

‘You tell me, Crystal. Did you kill him yourself?’ Vicky and Rowena were staring at him. Whatever truth Crystal was hiding from him, they clearly knew part of it.

The line went dead, and Gillard looked at the two women, who seemed not to be breathing at all. ‘With your permission, Vicky, I’d like to borrow your phone.’

‘No, I need it. Lots of bookings for the pub get diverted onto it from the landline.’

‘Look, if you give it to me now I can get it back to you within the day. If I have to get a warrant, you might be without it for a month.’ He turned to Rowena and said: ‘I’d like yours too, young lady.’