She flipped the notebook shut with a frustrated sigh. She needed to be proactive. Cameron seemed as good a place as any to start. She’d drive down to the next village and see if she could speak to him. He might be able to give her an insight or some useful bit of info about what had happened when they’d met up that day. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to ask him, but she’d work on that on the way. At least she was doing something now, and it was certainly better than sitting around, getting herself all worked up over the incident earlier. She needed to toughen up if she wanted to be an investigative journalist.

Steph was about to put the notebook safely away in her case, when she changed her mind. Someone might be desperate to get hold of this and if they managed to steal it she’d have no record at all.

It was a laborious task, but one that needed to be done, as Steph methodically took a photograph on her phone of each page and, one by one, emailed them to herself, then opening each email and downloading the contents to her drop box. That way she would still be able to access a copy. For good measure, she also copied them onto a memory stick.

‘Talk about covering all bases,’ she muttered to herself as she then hid the memory stick in the bottom of her case.

Before she left her room, Steph made sure her laptop was back in its bag and tucked away in the wardrobe. She took her handbag and her memory stick with her. She could easily replace the laptop if it was stolen, but not the work. Although, tucked away up here in the staff quarters, anyone trying to break into her room would have to be pretty brazen, she thought as she locked her door and tested the handle several times. She put the key into the inside pocket of her bag and zipped it up.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Nag’s Head Pub, Sunday, 12 May, 6 p.m.

The pub had that lazy Sunday evening atmosphere to it. The hustle and bustle of the lunchtime trade was now over and a more relaxed feel had settled, with the quiet conversation of a few customers mingling with the sound of the background music. It was comfortable and welcoming, Steph thought as she picked up a bar menu, not because she was hungry but to give her a little longer to take in her surroundings and suss out the bar staff.