‘I don’t need to remind you that you are employed by Wiltshire Police, with a publicly funded remit to prevent crime in the county,’ Ward continues. ‘I’ve just had the Met’s SIO on the phone, wanting to know why the first person on the scene was a Keystone Cop from Stonehenge.’

‘Sir, Dr Varma worked for Rob,’ Silas says, mindful of what Ward said last time about Rob being a ‘very good friend’ to Swindon. ‘He was assessing the mental recovery of Kate, the former super recogniser, who is currently in a relationship with Rob. I think someone’s trying to frame Rob with this murder and possibly the murder in Cornwall, as well as the abduction of a number of super recognisers in the UK and Europe, including France.’

Jake has just rung him about an item on a French website, suggesting that a super recogniser has disappeared from a covert unit in Paris. Silas wasn’t even aware of the unit’s existence; he’d assumed that the use of super recognisers in France was not permitted under the country’s tougher regulatory framework.

‘All news to me, Silas,’ Ward says. ‘You really need to keep others in the loop, particularly your immediate boss. That’s how these things are meant to work. I thought we’d talked about you being more of a team player.’

‘A lot of the evidence has been circumstantial until now. And I know you don’t like—’

‘Do we have any idea who might be trying to frame Rob?’ Ward asks, interrupting him.

‘Our prime suspect is a man called Gilmour Martin, who happens to bear an uncanny physical likeness to Rob.’

‘His “doppelgänger”, you mean,’ Ward says.

‘He arrived in the UK on a fake passport six months ago,’ Silas continues, ignoring his boss’s cynical tone. ‘And we have reason to believe he’s been impersonating Rob as part of a long-held grudge to destroy him – and possibly Kate too. Kate left the country earlier today, we think under duress.’

‘Anyone see her go?’

Silas glances at Strover again. ‘Her ex-partner.’ He doesn’t want Ward to linger on the unreliability of his source. ‘Her best friend also saw her leave. Kate could be in real danger.’

‘Where is she now?’ Ward asks.

‘Brittany, where Rob has a number of business interests and another home. I’ve alerted Europol – they’ve issued a European arrest warrant alert for Gilmour Martin.’

‘So I gather.’ Ward pauses. ‘What do you want from me, Silas?’

‘Twenty-four hours. Strover and me.’

‘Twenty-four hours when modern slavery is allowed to tighten its pernicious grip on Swindon. You’re a pain in the arse, you know that.’

And the last time his boss’s arse hurt, Silas caught a serial killer, but he stays quiet.

‘Twenty-four hours,’ Ward confirms. ‘And that’s it. I don’t want Rob being unfairly framed for anything.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ Silas says, smiling at Strover.

97

Kate