‘What, you think Arthur could be responsible?’

Caroline cocked her head and narrowed her eyes as she focused on the road in front. ‘Who knows? Suspect everyone, Dex. Always a good general rule.’

Before she could put the car into gear, her phone started to ring. She answered it through the car.

‘DI Hills.’

‘Hi, it’s Aidan. I’ve got something,’ Aidan said. ‘I’ve been onto the airlines, trying to find out when Arthur Clifton came back to the UK. He’s been back in the country for three weeks.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Yep. He was here a whole week and a half before Roger died.’

‘Shit. He told us he came back when he heard the news.’

‘Then he lied. And that opens up the question of what else he’s been lying about.’

Caroline closed her eyes and sighed. ‘He’s got no reason to lie otherwise. But why try and get away with it? He must know we can check passenger lists and get the evidence.’

‘Yeah. It doesn’t sound right.’

‘Right. Well, we know he’s been staying at the Wisteria, so we’ll head over there and speak to them. Maybe they’ll be able to confirm how long he’s been there.’

‘Good stuff, I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.’

Caroline ended the call, then jumped at the sound of someone tapping on her window. She turned to see a man in a hi-vis vest, and rolled her window down.

‘Hi. Sorry,’ he said, noticing he’d made her jump. ‘You the police?’

‘Yes, DI Caroline Hills. This is DS Dexter Antoine. And you are…?’

‘Uh, do I have to give my name?’

‘Well, no. Why? What’s up?’

‘I just wanted to say I saw something which might be useful, that’s all.’

‘What sort of thing?’

‘Well, heard it, mostly. Arthur was here a couple of weeks ago, back when Roger was still around. They were having this almighty barney in the office. I know I should’nt’ve, but I got a bit closer to see what it was all about, like. We’d never seen Arthur before and we didn’t know who he was till he took over the company, but then it all made sense. They was arguing about money and stuff.’

‘He was here? What day was this?’

‘Couldn’t tell you. But yeah, I remember hearing Arthur say he was out of money. “Totally fucked” was the words he used. He was telling Roger how he was entitled to a share in the company and all that. Then we heard someone coming, so we scarpered.’

‘I’ll need to get all this down in an official statement from you,’ Caroline said.

‘Oh. Uh, I dunno. I mean, I don’t want to rock the boat or nothing…’