‘Well, I suppose I can understand that from their point of view. If there’s no hard evidence that this material has come from our site, then they could never attempt to bring any sort of prosecution. What did David say when you told him what the police had said?’

‘I haven’t told him.’ Clare hesitated. ‘I spoke to them before I told David.’

‘Ah, now I’m beginning to see why you don’t want him to know about our conversation. I’m assuming that you neglected to mention that small detail when David told you to report this to the police?’

Clare nodded reluctantly. ‘The thing is, Margaret, he’ll only tell me to drop it. And how can I do that?’ She pointed at the laptop screen. ‘I’m not an idiot, Margaret, I know these guys could be dangerous. If this stuff is genuinely from Bailsgrove then it would make it a nationally significant site – this could be the evidence that Beth Kinsella was looking for. I really don’t understand where David’s coming from on this. We can’t just do nothing.’

But Margaret understood exactly where David was coming from. She’d come to know David pretty well since they had first worked together at Hungerbourne. And she’d come to understand that, though he would never admit it, there was only one thing in this world that he would ever consider putting before his archaeology and that was Clare’s well-being. But she also knew that Clare was right. She couldn’t in all conscience sit by and do nothing if there was even the faintest possibility that a site of such importance was being destroyed by nighthawks.

‘David is just being cautious, Clare. He needs to think of the welfare of everyone who works for the institute, not just the archaeology. But I agree with you, we can’t just do nothing.’

With the use of the word ‘we’, Margaret could see a look of relief spread across Clare’s face and break into the first inkling of a smile. ‘But what do we do, Margaret?’

‘Well, for one thing I think you’re right not to tell David about this. He would only stop us. And for another you mustn’t tell anyone else on-site.’ The worried look returned to Clare’s face as quickly as it had vanished. ‘Do I take it that it’s too late for that?’

Clare nodded. ‘Neil Fuller, our site supervisor, already knows about the pits and I got him to set up a couple of wildlife cams on-site for security, but I haven’t said anything about the website.’

‘Anyone else?’

‘Just the police. Oh, and I mentioned it to Jo.’