‘Morning, Mr Holland,’ Jane said.

Startled, he jumped up from his chair. ‘Christ, I nearly had a heart attack!’

‘Sorry, I should have knocked first.’

‘What can I do for you?’

‘We’re here for a couple of reasons. The first is to let you know we found the body of a nun in the coffin.’

‘Does that mean the whole site will have to shut down?’ he sighed.

‘I’ve yet to speak with someone senior in the Church to determine if the ground is consecrated or was ever used as a graveyard, but—’

‘So you are shutting us down?’

‘No, just suspending any digging work for now.’

He frowned. ‘But nothing else can be done until all the foundations are dug out.’

Jane could see he was distraught. ‘I’m sorry, but I’m just conveying what my senior officers told me. I’m sure things will be back to normal soon.’

‘Have you told Nick Durham about the nun?’ Lee asked.

‘Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to speak to him yesterday. Did you?’

‘Yeah. I spoke to him on the phone. I told him the coffin had been taken to the mortuary, gave him your details and said you’d be in touch. Naturally, he wasn’t happy about the situation.’

‘That’s understandable, but we have a job to do. I will speak to him personally, hopefully later today.’

‘What’s the other reason you’re here?’

‘We need to speak to Barry. Is he coming to work this morning?’

‘I don’t know. Dermot was going to tell him to be here for half seven as we’ve got a brick delivery coming in at eight.’

‘Do you have a home address for him? Just in case he doesn’t turn up. And what’s his surname?’

‘His surname is May.’ Lee went to a filing cabinet, removed a file with Barry’s details and handed it to Jane. She jotted down his address in her notebook and showed it to Boon.

‘Do you know where it is?’

‘Yes. Crundale Tower is on the Ramsden Estate in St Mary Cray. It’s mostly council flats and maisonettes. What’s Barry done?’ Lee asked.

‘Did he say anything to you yesterday about wanting to open the coffin?’ Jane asked.

‘Not at first. Dermot told me about the coffin, and I went out to look at it. Barry was worried about the site being shut down. He said if the coffin was empty there’d be nothing to worry about and we could just get rid of it. I specifically told him not to touch it.’

Jane looked out the window and realised the original position of the coffin couldn’t be seen from the Portakabin. ‘Was Barry with you from the time you called us to the time we got here?’

‘No. I went to call Nick Durham. Barry was sulking in the hut when I got back. He opened the bloody coffin, didn’t he?’

‘It appears that someone did,’ Boon said.

‘Well, I can assure you it wasn’t me or Dermot,’ Lee replied. ‘Is it even a crime to open a coffin?’