Her visit to see Mark Stone might have been an unmitigated disaster as far as getting him to take her seriously about Beth’s death was concerned, but work on-site was going like a dream. Not only had they found the ditch surrounding what seemed to be a group of offering pits, but by the time she’d got back from Stroud, Malcolm – who was proving to be worth his weight in gold – had spotted what appeared to be a ring ditch, though this one looked as if it was considerably smaller in its proportions than the first. She’d phoned David to tell him last night and he’d suggested bringing Jason Dempsey up from the department to get some aerial shots with the department’s drone. Clare had jumped at the chance.

Now Jason – universally known as Flyboy to his colleagues – and David were standing on the side of the trench inspecting the equipment. Looking at David, head bent over the miniature aircraft, Clare thought he looked like nothing so much as an overexcited ten-year-old who’d just woken up to the best Christmas present ever.

‘So how high can it go?’ asked David.

Flyboy chortled. ‘Way higher than the CAA regs will let us take it. So you’d better hope we never find out.’

Clare strolled towards them. ‘Is this a boys-only thing or can anyone join in?’

David waved her over. ‘You’ve got to come and see this. Look, it’s got a fully functional digital SLR and you can change the settings remotely when it’s flying.’

This was Clare’s sort of aerial photography. A world away from her traumatic experiences on the second-hand scaffolding tower at Hungerbourne. The only good thing about her near-death experience on the forty-year-old piece of junk was that it had convinced David they should never use it again. And that was just fine by her. Any device that could take shots of the site from fifty metres up while the photographer kept their feet firmly planted on the ground was the type of kit she had every intention of becoming better acquainted with. And some of the drone shots from other archaeological sites she’d seen online were truly spectacular.

She asked, ‘Can I have a go?’

David said, ‘Sure, Flyboy will show you how.’

Flyboy shook his head. ‘No can do on this one, Dave old chum.’ David winced. Clare smiled. He’d always hated having his name shortened. And, looking at the grin on Flyboy’s face, she suspected he was just as well aware of the fact as she was. ‘CAA regs again, I’m afraid. You need to do the training first. We can arrange that when you’re back in the department. But there’s nothing to stop me from showing you how it works.’

He picked up the drone and held it out towards her. When he handed it to her she nearly dropped it, the thing was so heavy.