Holm and Javed followed Cornish along a narrow path back to the car park. The little cafe was devoid of customers aside from a solitary police officer who was chatting to the woman behind the counter. When Cornish approached he nodded and made his excuses.

‘That’s what it’s like these days,’ Cornish said as they sat at a table. ‘The loneliness of command.’

‘I wouldn’t know.’ Holm said. He looked at Javed. ‘Although sometimes a little peace and quiet would be welcome.’

‘Believe me, there’s never any of that.’ Cornish stared out of the cafe window. The officer who’d left was talking to a colleague, and Holm had the sense Cornish wasn’t exactly happy with her role.

‘Ma’am?’ Javed cut into the awkward silence. ‘Who exactly was Ben Western?’

Cornish swung round. ‘He worked as the operations manager at SeaPak, a container shipping company. They’re based at Felixstowe and have a distribution centre there, as well as at Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Six months ago Western handed in his notice. Then, last week, he went missing. There was some evidence he might have been abducted, but it was sketchy. There was certainly no reason for him to run off and leave his wife and kids.’

‘It happens.’ Holm remembered walking into his living room to find his own wife straddling his next-door neighbour, his first thought – bizarrely – that he’d paid way over the odds for the deep-pile carpet the pair were fucking on. Perhaps he should have simply turned round and disappeared himself.

‘Yes, but alarm bells started to ring.’ Cornish paused. She took a sip of coffee, and when she spoke again the edge in her voice returned. Suspicion and a touch of aggression. ‘Now, before I tell you anything else, I want to know what exactly your interest is in Ben Western.’

‘Like I told you on the phone, animal rights.’ Holm bent to his own coffee, trying to disguise the lie. ‘Five are tracking a group out of Birmingham. We believe they may be planning something.’

‘Crap,’ Cornish said. ‘One, as far as I know Ben Western has nothing to do with animal rights, and two, since when did Stephen Holm concern himself with the antics of a few vegan loonies?’

‘Since last month.’ Holm didn’t have to put on an act now. He lowered his head. ‘Since the whole country went to a critical threat level on my advice. Since UK citizens died in Tunisia on my watch.’

Cornish looked abashed. She reached out a hand and touched Holm’s arm. ‘That was you?’

Holm nodded. ‘Yes.’