‘No creeps jumping out of the bushes or anything like that.’ I don’t know what I’d have done if they had, other than wet myself and run faster. ‘I was just letting you know I’m back safe. And I was also wanting to ask you a question about the university. Thought you might be able to help me out on the whole politics side of things.’

‘Heavens, I don’t know if anyone could tackle that one with any certainty, but I’ll do my best. It was about time I emerged for oxygen, anyway. Let’s go downstairs for a drink.’ He pulled the door shut behind him and we padded down the stairs. ‘Look at that, it’s wine o’clock.’

I didn’t usually subscribe to wine as a fluid replacement after running, but after the day I’d had, I was willing to rehydrate by any means. I did give some thought to side effects though and drank a large glass of water while Uncle Phil organised the refreshments.

‘University politics is fraught with danger, what did you want to know?’ he asked as he set a couple of glasses of white on the table.

‘This relates to the murder case, so I can’t really go into specifics, but we were talking to some of Rose-Marie’s colleagues about acknowledgement of research on academic papers and that kind of thing. They were saying that in certain circumstances, a professor, or someone of high academic standing will put in a minimal contribution to the research, but be named as a main player, even if someone else has done the bulk of the work. Is that really what goes on?’

‘Hah,’ he said, with a smile. ‘A difficult area, and a very grey one. I’d love to be able to say no, that doesn’t go on and the people who do the work get the credit, but in reality, sometimes it happens.’

‘And the university doesn’t do anything about it? Surely it’s bad for their credibility?’

‘Yes and no. It’s not good for credibility among the university folk and, as you can well imagine, it can cause a lot of resentment and discontent. But when it comes to gaining international credibility and, ultimately, funding, sometimes you need a high-profile name up there to get it noticed in the first place, to get invited to the international symposia. It’s a competitive environment, and even in New Zealand, the universities compete for funding based on their research output. The government giveth, and the government taketh away, depending on your ranking each year. So it’s big bikkies really.’

‘Is it rife?’

‘No, but I have heard of several instances. Was it happening to Rosie?’

‘Yeah, looks like it. Interesting dynamics in her department. Seems she was being had in many ways. But you can be certain, we’ll get the person who did this to her, to all of them.’