They spent most of the drive to George Evans’s house walking through the possible outcomes as far as Natasha Barclay was concerned. They both dismissed the notion that Natasha might still be alive. It would be hard enough to survive that kind of traumatic injury altogether, let alone without the support of your friends and family. The original theory that Barclay killed her himself still had merit. The fact that he might have been pushed to his limits and beyond to be able to do that by Locke systematically dismantling his world would not change that fact.

After interviewing Rebecca Arnold, there was an equally good chance that Bolton was their man. Bolton had a stake in Barclay selling out. Who was to say how far he would have gone to make sure that happened? There was also the possibility that it was for himself, and that he’d simply lost his temper with her. Porter knew he had that in him, that ability to cross the line and do what others could not stomach. Had Natasha said or done the wrong thing, flirted with another man in front of him? Could it have happened in the heat of the moment?

The last scenario they considered was that it was someone else entirely, someone that hadn’t even made a ripple on the pond, let alone a big splash like Bolton. Porter conceded it was possible but unlikely. Bolton was still the prime suspect for him, although everything about the case against him still felt flimsy. They had a witness to place him with Natasha, and had his fingerprints in the apartment, but he could already picture the sneer he would get from Charles Jasper if they dragged Bolton in again with nothing more than that. They’d no doubt argue that he’d gone back there after a few drinks, had a drink, maybe more, and left promising to call her the next day. The perfect gentleman.

At this stage, their best chance of a conviction still lay with Simmons waking up and positively identifying him as her attacker. As for Locke, there was nothing to verify that he either knew what Bolton had planned at the Taylor building or that he’d sanctioned it himself. Nor was there anything to link him directly to the avalanche of narcotics that flowed through his network. Their best shot at him, as of now, resided in an old farmhouse three miles from Caernarfon.

According to the report Styles had dug up, George Evans had suffered in more than just the financial sense. The last fire had been at an overflow storage site near Haverfordwest, and Evans had been on-site when it happened. He had gone back into the building to help one of his men who had been overcome by the smoke, and ended up with third-degree burns across his right shoulder and down onto his bicep.