‘Could be,’ he said. Fry might just as well have been describing the police. It was definitely an ‘us and them’ sort of job. ‘You don’t think it’s any more than that? There couldn’t be somebody with a more personal reason to cover up?’

‘And we still have the crematorium staff,’ said Hitchens. ‘They’re hidden away in that room at the back of the chapel. It’s an ideal situation for the kind of person Dr Kane described just now. Imagine – he sees human beings reduced to dust every day. There’s nothing so predictable as ashes.’

Fry stood up, though she wasn’t going anywhere. She just needed to move restlessly around the room.

‘If you ask me, there’s nothing so predictable as the opinion of an expert.’

‘Diane, sit down,’ said Hitchens.

‘You know, I’m not sure about the crematorium staff,’ said Cooper. He’d found himself thinking of the terrarium at Mrs Askew’s house, with its seashells and Venus flytraps. Nothing predictable about that, really.

‘Why?’ said Hitchens.

‘Well, I think the type of person Dr Kane was talking about would want to see the processes the body went through after death.’

‘And that means he’d have to go back to the scene to check on the body. Maybe several times.’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Somebody must have seen him, surely.’

‘We could put out appeals.’

‘Only if we had some idea what times he went back.’

‘Of course. But wait a minute, Diane – does he know we’ve found this body?’

‘What?’

‘We haven’t issued a statement yet, have we? There’s been no announcement to the media?’

‘Well, apart from your facial reconstruction splashed all over the papers and TV screens the other day. Getting the attention of the public, remember?’

Cooper’s shoulders slumped. ‘Oh, that’s right.’

‘Why, what were you thinking?’

‘That he might go back to the body again. To do a final check.’

‘Not much chance of that now.’

Hitchens thought about it. ‘Let’s stick to what we actually know. We’ve got a positive ID on a body that was entrusted to Hudson and Slack for proper disposal. But instead of being cremated, the body ended up in the woods, ten miles away at Ravensdale.’

‘That’s about it.’

‘Pretty nasty business, if you ask me. Something we should take very seriously.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Let’s take some action, then. We’ve still got to maintain a “softly, softly” approach towards Hudson and Slack. But I think we’re justified at this stage in applying for a search warrant and seizing their records.’

‘Wow,’ said Cooper, sitting upright with a surge of excitement. He looked at Fry to share the reaction, but she didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic as he’d expected.

‘Can we raid their premises and go softly, softly at the same time?’ asked Fry.