‘I suppose it might just be me, Sergeant, but I don’t understand where these animal lovers are coming from,’ said Gains. ‘Why do people who eat cows and sheep get so upset at the idea of eating a horse?’

‘They think of them as companions, not food.’

‘That’s the way most of us think about dogs, isn’t it? Yet the Chinese and Koreans eat dog meat, even consider it a delicacy. One man’s pet is another man’s protein.’ Gains smiled. ‘Isn’t that right, Sergeant?’

FRY WAS RELIEVED to get out of the R & G distribution centre. Though the smell had been clean, and maybe even overly hygienic, there had been a strange contradiction in the sight of those purple slabs of meat being handled and shipped out. By the time she got back to her car, she was very glad that Gavin Murfin wasn’t with her. She couldn’t have stood it if he’d produced something to eat right at this moment.

A message from Murfin was waiting on her phone. There must have been no signal while she was inside R & G Enterprises.

‘Thought you might like to know,’ said Murfin when she called him back. ‘SOCOs lifted some latent prints from that gate on Longstone Moor. They’ve visited the farmer and printed him for comparison, but some of the latents don’t match. Could be you were right, Diane.’

‘Well, actually, Ben Cooper was right.’

‘I’ll tell him that.’

Fry sighed. ‘Yes, do.’

‘Are you OK, Diane?’

‘Yes, I’m fine. I’ve just escaped from a vision of the future – R & G Enterprises.’

She told Murfin about her visit, not leaving out the slabs of meat.

‘I know you said Patrick Rawson had a finger in a lot of pies,’ said Murfin when she’d finished, ‘but I didn’t realize some of the pies were made of horse meat.’

Fry winced. ‘Don’t, Gavin.’

‘Oh, got to go,’ said Murfin. ‘There’s something happening.’

‘What?’

But he’d gone. And Fry had to sit tapping her fingers on the steering wheel while she waited for him to phone back.

‘What’s going on?’

‘We’re just picking up a suspect,’ said Murfin breathlessly. ‘The DI’s taking the lead, and we’re on the way there now.’

‘Who, Gavin? Who is it?’

‘It seems we’ve got information on some youth who has Patrick Rawson’s wallet and credit cards in his possession. His mum saw the appeals on TV and shopped him. Good news, eh?’

Fry looked at the frontage of R & G Enterprises, with its smoked glass and its designer logo. Had she just wasted a precious hour of her life being patronized by Maurice Gains while all the action was happening elsewhere? And on her case, too?

‘Yeah. That’s great news, Gavin.’

‘Oh, yes,’ said Murfin. ‘And one more thing: we’ve got another body.’

Chapter Twenty-two