It was half an hour in before she came to the nub of the question: who controlled the firm?

‘In most ways EoS is a conventional company. The shares, traded on London’s Alternative Investment Market, have performed steadily for the last five years, with a market value of roughly £120 million.’ She outlined the family shareholdings. ‘The board and trustees together can thwart any bid, as they have a majority.’ She displayed the next slide. ‘Those four trustees are Mrs Roy’s son Harry; her brother, Vikram Vaj; Prisha’s ex-husband, Deepak Tripathi and L. P. Gosht, a retired judge who lives in India, but who was the cousin of the late Dr Roy. Vaj is the chair of trustees, and is also the family’s lawyer. His secretary has been good enough to forward me a copy of Mrs Roy’s will.’

Carl Hoskins rubbed his hands together and chuckled. ‘Now we get to know who had a motive.’

The slide showed a photocopy of the first page of the will. ‘I’ll summarise it for you. Mrs Roy’s five per cent stake in the company, worth about £6 million, is her main asset, and is transferred to the family trust. Likewise the house at Richmond, which is estimated to be worth over £4 million.’

‘That’s a lot of money,’ Hodges said with a grin. ‘I could kill for that.’

‘Yeah, but you’re skint,’ Hoskins said. ‘If you was already loaded, like Mrs Roy’s sprogs, could you be bothered? Especially if you knew you would get it eventually anyway.’

Hodges shrugged. ‘Fair point.’

‘What exactly is the trust for?’ Gillard asked.

Shireen turned to the whiteboard. ‘I had assumed that it was set up purely with the children as beneficiaries, but it’s not so simple. The trust deed I found is a translation, and is quite brief. It lays out charitable aims, both for Dr Roy’s legacy and the future family business, but is also part manifesto. Dr Roy wants to fund Hindu education, and expand something called Hindutva, which seems to be something to do with Indian self-determination. The document refers to a schedule of reserved assets, and a “codicil of beneficiary precedence”. There was no copy of the schedule or codicil filed with Companies House. I emailed both Vaj and Harry Roy to ask for it, but I have yet to receive a reply.’

Gillard looked up. ‘Harry’s just been diagnosed with depression, so I would just pursue the lawyer, Vaj.’

Shireen continued. ‘One thing that is obvious about this company is its archaic and paternalistic structure.’

‘That’s just a polite way of calling it discriminatory,’ Claire said.

Shireen smiled her agreement. ‘Yes. Harry is the second child, but has a huge stake compared to his sisters, and even his mother. None of the women were trustees, either, yet it was Mrs Roy’s business acumen that built it.’

‘Grotesquely unfair,’ Claire added.

Carl Hoskins raised his hand. ‘So what you’re saying is she should have done the murdering, rather than being murdered?’