Sonya raised her hands in a shrug of futility. ‘Who knows? Roger ran everything on his own, pretty much. I did all the office stuff, but anything to do with the operation of the business was all down to him. I don’t have a clue what’s going on or who I can turn to. Those guys out there want to know when we’re going to be open and working again. I don’t know if we even can. What’s the protocol? I’ve put a call in to the solicitor, but I’ve got no idea if he’s ever going to ring me back. And with those two breathing down my neck and sending messages back and forth to the others, I feel like I want to scream.’

‘We can ask them to leave, if you like,’ Dexter said. ‘If the business is closed, they don’t need to be here.’

‘To be honest, I’ve got bigger things to worry about right now. I just need the space to digest things, work out what’s meant to happen with the business. Hopefully the solicitor can help me, because otherwise I don’t know what’s going to happen. I checked Companies House online, and Roger’s the only director of the company. I don’t know if that means it automatically passes to someone else, or who that person might even be. Or does it mean the company no longer exists? I don’t know. This is what I need to find out.’

‘Okay, let’s calm down and take a breath,’ Caroline said. ‘The solicitor will be able to help you with all that. For now, it’s best we focus on the questions we need to ask and the information we need to get to the bottom of what’s happened. That way we can progress the case and hopefully draw a line under that side of things for you.’ Sonya took a couple of deep breaths and nodded. ‘So, what can you tell me about Roger? Do you know any reason why anyone would want him dead?’

A look crossed Sonya’s face, almost as if it was the first time it had occurred to her that someone was actually responsible for this.

‘No, I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s construction. There are always people for and against every project. But that’s just how it goes. There are tens of thousands of construction projects going on around the country at any given time. People don’t just go around murdering people because of them.’

‘Have you had any particularly strong opposition to any projects recently?’ Caroline asked. ‘Does anything spring to mind as having been abnormal?’

Sonya thought for a moment before answering. ‘No. Nothing. I mean, I can send you details of all our projects, if you like. You’re more than welcome to look through and see if anything jumps out at you.’