With her team assembled in front of her, she opened the first of her morning briefings on Operation Forelock — the name that had been chosen by the Police National Computer from a pre-approved list of ‘neutral’ words. She watched the officers as she reeled off the familiar pre-amble — familiar to her, at least — and noticed an atmosphere of keen anxiety that seemed to be shared by everyone. They recognised the magnitude of the situation and were keen to do all they could to manage it to the best of their abilities. Caroline knew major cases were what tended to show either the strength in a team or expose its cracks, and she hoped Operation Forelock would provide her with the former rather than the latter.

‘First things first, I believe we have an identity on the victim. DS Antoine?’

‘That’s right. His name’s Roger Clifton, sixty years old. He’s a local businessman. Lived in Rutland all his life. He’s been on and off the local council for years.’

‘He’s well-known locally, then?’ Caroline asked.

‘Enough for one of the forensics boys to have recognised him as soon as he turned up to the scene.’

Caroline smiled inwardly. How very Rutland, she thought. ‘So what’s the situation? Is he popular?’

Dexter shuffled awkwardly. ‘Like I say, he’s been on and off the council for years.’

A ripple of laughter rumbled around the room.

‘Alright, I think I get it,’ Caroline said. ‘What line of business is he in?’

‘Construction,’ Dexter replied, the hint of a smile on his face.

‘Ah. I think I see the connection here. Would I be right in presuming there’s a correlation between his spells on the council and his involvement in local construction projects?’

‘Not for me to say, boss. Got to be worth looking into, though.’

‘I’d say so. We’ll need to speak to his colleagues, too. Let’s have a look into the setup of his company, see what’s going on there. We might struggle today with it being a Sunday, but let’s see what we can do. What else is there?’

‘The company’s based in Burley. Arthur Clifton Construction, it’s called.’

‘Arthur?’

‘His grandad, according to the company’s website. He was the original owner, and it’s since been passed down to Roger.’

‘If Roger’s sixty, Arthur must be long gone by now. There’s a good chance his dad, Arthur’s son, will be too. Any living family that we know of?’

‘His wife and daughter live in Empingham. On paper, so does he, but what we’re hearing is they’re not exactly a conventional couple. He “works away a lot”, apparently.’

‘Lovely. Nice and simple from the outset, then.’