Porter could feel the excitement building as he listened. He knew that none of this was enough to build a case against Locke, or any of his associates. There wasn’t the slightest provable fact in any of it, but it settled the question in his own mind about the kind of man Locke was. He had been willing to concede the possibility, however slim, that Bolton, Davies or both had been operating their own sideline without Locke’s knowledge. The circumstances surrounding the expansion of Locke & Winwood made that impossible in Porter’s opinion.

He made a mental note to dig out details of the local officers that worked each of the deaths and see if they could add anything. He would have to tread carefully, and not mention his suspicions about Locke to any of the locals. He didn’t want them getting excited at the prospect of a suspect in an unsolved death, and word getting back to Campbell just yet that two more murders might be pencilled in against such a pillar of the community.

Porter stood up and turned to face the other three detectives. He gave a summary of their trip to Wales, ending the account by producing the photograph from a nearby folder, like a magician pulling a rabbit from his hat.

‘That’s all very well and good, but what can we make stick?’ said Anderson, folding his arms over a chest that made his shirt strain at the buttons, the centre line parting at each one to reveal a flash of brown flesh.

Porter decided to let Anderson’s pessimism go by without a challenge this time.

‘From all of that? Nothing at the moment. We can speak to whoever investigated the deaths and the fires, but it’s that long ago they might not even be on the force still, let alone able to tell us anything useful.’

Anderson’s features softened ever so slightly, as if that was what he wanted to hear.

Jesus, he really doesn’t have the stomach for a big case before he cashes his chips out.

Porter kept his thoughts to himself and just shrugged in acknowledgement. ‘We might be able to use it to rattle Locke or his boys, though, put them on edge. People under pressure make mistakes. Maybe we let a few details slip when we pay a visit to Atlas and see if it gets back to them?’

‘Speaking of which, how are we slicing that up?’ asked Anderson. ‘We can do the drive-bys on Atlas while you two check up with the locals on those cases if you like?’

Porter nodded. ‘Yep, thanks mate. That’d be good.’