Judith found the witness statement the police had taken from Antonia Webster, Stefan’s assistant. She quickly scanned it.

‘Yes, it says here, Elliot argued with Stefan in his office on the morning of Monday the fifth of August. Which we now know was the same day that Liz attended a rowing dinner in the evening.’

‘You think the two events are connected?’ Becks asked.

‘I’ve no idea, but I’ll tell you this much,’ Judith said, realising something. ‘Rowing’s something that links Liz and Elliot.’

‘It is?’

Judith told the women about the school photos she’d seen on Elliot’s office wall that showed him in various rowing teams.

‘So he used to row,’ Suzie said. ‘I like it.’

‘And seeing as Liz once represented Great Britain,’ Judith said, ‘maybe they met through rowing?’

‘I don’t think it’s likely,’ Becks said, checking in her file. ‘She’s much younger than Elliot. Here we are, she’s fifty-four year’s old.’

‘Elliot is fifty-eight,’ Judith said after she’d found the relevant information in her file. ‘And you don’t have mixed boys and girls crews, do you? So it’s unlikely they rowed together. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t both go to the same rowing dinner that night, does it? It’s still a possibility. One moment.’

Judith left the room and found Tanika in conference with another police officer.

‘DS Malik, can you find out what Elliot Howard was doing on the night of Monday the fifth of August? But maybe ask for his movements for the whole week so he doesn’t know it’s specifically that night we’re interested in.’

‘Okay,’ Tanika said. ‘Happy to. And by the way, you were right about Andy Bishop. We’ve spoken to the Master of the Masonic Lodge in Marlow, and Mr Bishop’s a Freemason.’

‘What about Elliot Howard?’

‘I also asked about Elliot and he’s not, nor has he ever been, a Mason.’

‘Stefan Dunwoody?’

‘It’s the same for him and Iqbal Kassam. The only Mason in all of this is Andy Bishop.’

‘Well, that’s good to know. I’ll tell the team,’ Judith said, and bustled back to her office.

As Judith returned, she found Suzie and Becks deep in conversation.

‘Don’t let me interrupt,’ Judith said as she retook her place at the table.

‘I’m reading Iqbal’s crime scene report,’ Suzie explained for Judith’s benefit. ‘And it makes for grim reading, I can tell you. But there’s one thing that jumps out at me. The killer didn’t have to break in to kill him.’

‘You think Iqbal let him in?’ Judith asked.

‘Not at five o’clock in the morning, which was when he was killed. And according to the pathologist’s report, Iqbal had a heavy dose of sleeping pills in his system when he was killed.’

‘He’d been drugged?’ Becks asked in dismay.