The mood David had been in, she hadn’t wanted to tell him that she’d already spoken to the police and they’d been less than interested. As far as she knew he’d never met Mark Stone, but despite that for some reason he already seemed to have taken exception to him.

It suddenly struck her that maybe Sally knew Mark. For once she wished that she’d listened a bit more closely when David had been chuntering on about Sally. She knew that she came from Bristol. Was she imagining it or had he told her that she’d been in the Gloucestershire force before she transferred to Wiltshire? If so, it was possible Sally had worked with Mark Stone, or at least come across him. Clare smiled. Maybe Sally had worked rather more closely with him than David would have liked. She banished the thought as soon as it had arrived; something about David suffering from the green-eyed monster over Sally made her feel distinctly queasy.

She took a sip of her wine and fired up the laptop. It had been a long week and it wasn’t finished yet. She’d already done what David had asked and contacted the police. Even if she’d done it before she’d told him, they had a problem. Though she’d be happy if he never discovered that particular detail. And she’d come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t going to be able to tackle the nighthawks single-handed on-site. But that didn’t mean she had any intention of sitting back and doing nothing. She was responsible for what happened at Bailsgrove and she was damned if she was going to have Sheila Foggarty or anyone else accusing her of not taking her responsibilities seriously.

Apart from anything else, she’d only just started getting back on her feet financially after Stephen’s death. And if the unit went under she’d be out of a job. The only real skills she had were as an archaeologist, and the way the construction industry was going every archaeology unit in the country was laying people off. The complexities of her husband’s ill-judged property dealings had meant that he’d not only left a trail of debt behind him but also some legally dubious investments that had meant his estate had only recently finished going through probate. But there was one thing he had done that she’d had cause to be grateful for over the last couple of years. He’d appointed his friend and fellow solicitor James as his executor and not her.