David thought the least Clare could do was thank him too, particularly as he’d driven all the way up from Salisbury after back-to-back tutorials. And he’d had to persuade a colleague to cover his afternoon lecture – for which a large favour would no doubt be extracted at a later date. But for once he managed to hold his tongue. The three of them were jammed into the grandly named but microscopically proportioned welfare unit. In truth it was little more than a miniature Portakabin with a sink, fridge, microwave and the tiniest table David had ever seen, behind which he was now jammed with Clare and Professor Margaret Bockford seated either side of him.

Margaret, sporting her familiar site attire of baggy green cardigan and purple Doc Martens, peered over the top of her spectacles and offered a beatific smile. ‘Not at all. It’s lovely to have an excuse to come and see you both. It’s only a short hop from Oxford. But what is this all about?’

‘And why the hurry?’ David asked.

Clare offered an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry about that. The dig team are due on-site tomorrow and there’s a couple of things I really needed to discuss with you both before we start digging.’

David couldn’t disguise his surprise. ‘I’m impressed. I didn’t think you’d manage to pull a team together this fast.’

‘It wasn’t too difficult once I’d got Neil Fuller on board. It didn’t take him long to persuade most of Beth’s old crew that they should come back to site.’

David asked, ‘How’d you manage that? Jo seemed to think Fuller was still a bit wibbly about it all when I spoke to her a couple of days ago.’

Margaret glared reprovingly at David over her spectacles. ‘I think we’d all be somewhat “wibbly” if we’d been on-site when our much-respected director’s body was found hanging not two minutes from where we were working, wouldn’t we?’

‘Margaret’s got a point, David. And once I met Neil it was pretty obvious his reluctance had as much to do with his car being off the road as anything else. So I subbed him the cost of a new exhaust and he was good to go.’

‘Christ, Clare, we’re not a charity. We’re almost broke as it is.’

‘Don’t worry. I knew what you’d say so I paid for it out of my own pocket. And it was worth every penny – Neil’s been brilliant. Without him we wouldn’t have a team.’

David raised a hand in a gesture of surrender. He knew when he was beaten. ‘Fair enough. I’ll take your word for it.’

He glanced down at his watch. He’d arranged to meet Sal back at her place in Devizes at seven and at this rate he’d be hard-pressed to make it.