‘I think so, but I’ll get a statement from her mother, or whoever saw her in hospital last.’

‘Right. Then the obvious places where the opportunity might have arisen would be the funeral director’s premises, and the crematorium itself.’

‘I’d have thought those were the only places,’ said Cooper. ‘The family didn’t take her body home for a wake. The funeral director’s preparation room and chapel of rest seem most likely, as regards an opportunity for interfering with the body.’

‘And the funeral directors in this case are …?’

‘Hudson and Slack.’

The DI nodded. ‘Tread carefully, Ben. Be discreet. We don’t want a scare on our hands, with bereaved relatives panicking about the fate of their dearly departed. Nor do we want to wreck the good name of a reputable company without cause.’

‘I’ll be careful, sir. In fact, I thought I might start with the crematorium and work backwards.’

‘From the point of departure, so to speak? OK, that sounds like a plan.’

‘Meanwhile, I wondered … well, what about a new search at Litton Foot?’

‘In case we missed something the first time?’

‘For one thing, there are some bones missing from Audrey Steele’s remains,’ said Cooper. ‘There might be other evidence lying around the scene, too. Now that we have an angle on how she got there, I think we ought to take a fresh look, perhaps extend the area of the search.’

‘It would only be on a limited scale, Ben.’

‘I understand that, sir.’

Hitchens made a note. ‘I’ll get something set up.’

‘Thank you.’

The DI turned back towards the window, as if he believed the meeting was over. ‘At least Mrs Steele died of natural causes,’ he said. ‘So we’re not looking at a murder enquiry here.’

Cooper thought of Vivien Gill at home on the Devonshire Estate, sitting in her smelly kitchen with her Doidy Cup and Bickiepegs.

‘Well …’ he said.

Hitchens spun round on his chair to face him. ‘What? What?’

‘It’s just …’ Cooper hesitated a moment under the DI’s gaze. ‘Well, sir, there is another question to be answered. If Audrey Steele’s remains ended up in the woods in Ravensdale, then who was cremated in her place?’

Cooper sat down at his desk and ran a check on the Criminal Intelligence System, but without result. Apparently, unauthorized interference with corpses wasn’t a common offence in Derbyshire. Who’d have guessed it? He requested a flag on any reports of similar incidents collated by intelligence officers on other forces, though he knew it would take time before there was any response.