‘No obvious red flags,’ said Geraint. ‘It seems the only conversations the couples have are what to have for dinner, what to watch on TV. And then silence.’

I was tempted to interject with: ‘It could be a companionable silence’.

‘There are no hushed phone calls and there’s no unusual internet activity – apart from George Pig’s wife Kate googling herself ten times a day,’ added Pixie.

‘She’s an actress,’ I offered.

‘Oh. Right. Well, yeah, that explains that then.’

Geraint said, ‘The only questionable contact to note is George Pig receiving unusual emails to his private account. We’ve been working on them for the last few hours and if they’re in code we can’t crack it.’

‘What address are they from?’ asked Hattie.

‘Just a random Hotmail address that isn’t in his contacts,’ said Pixie. ‘The last couple said, While I slice the final sandwich, tell me how you won the prize and, He will travel further than the end of the world in search of a worthy person.’

‘They sound like junk or a phishing scam,’ said Jake.

‘We thought that at first too,’ said Geraint, ‘but they go straight into his inbox. And he reads them. He’s been getting them every week for the last month.’

‘Frederick told me he had a day off last Thursday. It could be linked to that. Look into his movements that day and see what comes up.’

Geraint tapped into his laptop and ‘Coded emails, day off Thursday’ came up under George Pig’s photo.

‘Peppa’s been textin’ someone on a pay-as-you-go mobile,’ said Pixie. ‘They seem to be trying to set up a meet – lots of back and forth with times, dates and locations. Soon as they sort a definite plan we’ll let you know.’

‘Texts with Unknown Subject’ was added to Peppa Pig’s column.

‘Daddy Pig emailed a man called Daniel Wheal, a banker at Goldman Sach, saying he would meet him at the Christie’s Asian art exhibition on Sunday for the “handover”,’ said Geraint. ‘We can’t find anything on Wheal. He seems legit.’

The fact Daddy Pig had arranged a meet at an event where Peng would be in attendance, combined with his night away, made him my current leading choice for being the Snake.

‘How are we doing on where Daddy Pig was when he was meant to be away in Birmingham?’

‘There was no sign of Daddy Pig after leaving the office at 7.34 p.m.,’ announced Geraint. ‘Nothing on his credit cards. His mobile phone remained in the vicinity of Vauxhall the whole night.’

I frowned. ‘Sounds like he could’ve left his phone at the office and gone walkabout. Naomi reported Daddy Pig has another Birmingham trip planned for Friday. Have we learned anything from their online history?’