‘Gabriel?’

‘Yes. Do you have a surname and an address for him?’

‘Gabriel Hallam.’ She read out an address in Fleet, Hampshire. ‘I don’t think he’s there much. Why are you asking about him? Is it about the money he borrowed from me?’

‘Amongst other things. Has he paid it back?’

‘No.’ There was a catch in her throat. ‘I’ve not seen him at all.’

Gillard feared she was about to cry. ‘Ellen, do you have a work address for him?’

‘Only a phone number. He’s self-employed. Something in tech, travels all the time.’ She passed it over. It was a mobile number. ‘Why are you asking about him?’

‘Gabriel was due to come with you to a dinner party here, but couldn’t come. That’s right, isn’t it?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you had given him this address?’

‘Yes, he said he might be a little late so would come independently.’

Gillard wrote down a few more questions as they occurred to him.

‘How did you meet him? Was it online?’

‘No. His car broke down just outside my house, and he knocked on the door for help.’

‘When was that?’

‘Sunday, 12 January.’ The precision of her response showed what a significant moment it was in her life. Gillard felt sorry for her, but didn’t have the time to indulge it.

‘What kind of car did he have?’

‘A black Range Rover. But it wasn’t his only one.’

‘What was the other vehicle?’

She blew a long sigh. ‘I don’t know. It was big and green, though. We went out in it for one of our early dates.’ She thought for a moment. ‘It had a little funnel thing on it, that stuck up like a chimney.’

The Warrior? Gillard’s mind reeled. ‘That’s a snorkel, for deep water use. Did it have an open pick-up back?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t suppose you know the registration numbers?’

‘Sorry.’

‘Ellen, do you have any pictures of him?’

‘I did. He hated having his photo taken, because he had this scar. He forbade me to show anyone, he said that people were after him.’

‘Can you email me the pictures?’

He could hear her voice dissolving now. ‘No, no I can’t. I deleted them both when he dumped me. And now I wish I hadn’t.’ Her voice tailed off into a full blown bout of crying.

I wish you hadn’t, too. ‘Ellen, I need you to bring your phone to a police station for forensic examination. We have people who may be able to retrieve the deleted photographs. You have to do this immediately, do you understand? I’m really sorry to have to ask this, but it’s extremely important.’ He asked her where her nearest police station was, and he made a note to get an NCA officer over there immediately with a portable data extraction kiosk. Finally, he had the momentous decision to make over whether to let her listen to the phone message he had just received. Any hope of keeping the nature of the crime secret would go, but if she recognised his voice, it would crack the case right open.