‘And were there?’

‘Well, Mr Goodwin knows about the lampers. He says he spotted them on the estate a couple of times. He wanted to report it, but Casey wouldn’t let him.’

‘Is that what they fell out about?’

‘I think it started from there. There used to be an ATV kept in one of the outbuildings up there for Mr Goodwin to use, so he could get round the whole estate. But Casey took it off him, so he was pretty much restricted to keeping an eye on the house after that.’

‘Interesting.’

‘I think Mr Goodwin had his suspicions about Casey,’ said Cooper. ‘And if he’s anything like his brother-in-law, he won’t have hesitated to express his opinion. I don’t think Casey would have liked that.’

‘The old personality clash.’

‘Mmm. I wonder whether John Casey is involved in something more than just providing access to a gang of professional lampers.’

‘Ben, where exactly are you?’ asked Fry suddenly.

‘Near Tideswell.’

‘Isn’t that close to where the Slacks live? What are you doing in that area?’

‘I was thinking of visiting the Slacks again. Look, I think Vernon is very frightened. I think Hudson and McGowan have systematically terrorized him until he’s terrified of talking to anybody. That suggests Vernon knows something, doesn’t it? Something of interest to us.’

‘I agree with the last part at least.’

‘I wonder if he thinks they’re going to kill him. It could have been Vernon who made the phone calls.’

‘It doesn’t work, does it? If he wanted us to know he was in danger, why not just come forward and tell us? What’s the point of making a mystery of it? Besides, the caller seems to be suggesting he’s the killer, not the victim.’

Cooper bit his lip in frustration. ‘Vernon hasn’t been in work today, you know. McGowan told me he called in sick.’

‘Yes, I got your message.’

Then he caught the worried tone in her voice. ‘Diane, do you think Vernon’s at risk?’

‘Yes, Ben. But I don’t think the risk to him is from Hudson or McGowan. I think it’s from your friend Professor Robertson.’

Cooper listened as Fry told him about Lucy Somerville. Then he finished the call and unlocked the car. He was thinking there were too many dead ends in this enquiry, and not just The Tale of Mr Tod. Too many dead people, too, for that matter. Audrey Steele, Sandra Birley, Richard Slack, a set of unidentified remains. Death from natural causes, death by accident. Dead and gone. Dead, and never called me mother.

It was only then that Cooper remembered the sparseness of the rooms in the Slacks’ house, and the reason struck him. There wasn’t a thing in the place that could have been identified as belonging to Vernon’s parents. Someone had removed all traces of Richard Slack from his old home.

Chapter Thirty-Three

‘You want a search warrant for Professor Robertson’s house?’ said DI Hitchens, squeaking his swivel chair anxiously. ‘What are your grounds?’