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back the day after tomorrow, the twenty-seventh, and, as you suggested, Dave has already lodged his details with the Border Agency to intercept him on his return and notify police.’
    ‘Excellent,’ I said. ‘Dave and I will be there to greet him. What time’s he due in?’
    ‘According to his return ticket, sir, he should be touching down at Heathrow at three in the afternoon, our time.’
    It was now past midnight and very little had been achieved. Admittedly, we knew the identity of the dead woman, and had obtained a few sparse background details from the Maitlands. The next two important steps would be to interview Nicholas Hammond on his return from New York, and to visit the offices of Kerry Trucking. DS Flynn had said that Hammond would not be back until the twenty-seventh, but there was a chance that Kerry Trucking would be operating on Boxing Day, particularly if it had the international commitments that Peter Maitland had suggested it had.
    I sent the team home, but told them that I expected to see them the following day. There were a few groans, but a general acceptance that murder enquiries rarely fitted in with detectives’ social arrangements. It was not the first time my Christmas had been ruined, and I don’t suppose that it will be the last.
    I arranged for a duty car from the Yard to take me home to my flat in Surbiton. I’d decided that it would be most unwise to return to Gail’s house, not that I would have shared her bed in any event; Gail is a little shy of sleeping with me when her parents are staying with her. Apart from anything else, George and Sally Sutton were travelling back to Nottingham later on Boxing Day, and that would avoid my having to answer George’s question about whether I intended to marry his daughter. It also meant that I would miss out on further gripping yarns about the land speed record and Formula One motor racing. But I could live with that.
    I was in the office by nine o’clock. Dave was already there, as were Kate Ebdon and the rest of the team.
    ‘Kerry Trucking is operating today, guv,’ said Dave. ‘It seems they don’t recognize Boxing Day. Bit like us.’
    ‘In that case, we’ll get out there.’ I glanced at Kate. ‘Anything for me?’ I asked.
    ‘I’ve been checking on Kerry Hammond’s mobile, guv. There were several unanswered calls from Nick Hammond on Christmas Eve at about the time he discovered she wasn’t at the airport. And over the past few days there have also been calls from a mobile that goes out to a Gary Dixon. There were quite a few calls from him over the preceding weeks, the last one being at about three thirty on Christmas Eve. There were also a few from Kerry to a Miguel Rodriguez. So far I don’t know who Dixon or Rodriguez are, but I’m working on it.’
    ‘Well done, Kate, and thanks.’
    ‘There’s one other thing, guv,’ said Dave. ‘The CCTV tapes from the airport car park.’
    ‘Yes?’ I asked hopefully.
    ‘They were duff, guv. Half of them weren’t working, and those that were operative weren’t focused on the area we’re interested in.’
    ‘Terrific!’ I said. But it was no more than I’d expected.

THREE
    K erry Trucking occupied a huge area in Scarman Street, Chiswick. There were several Volvo articulated lorries in the yard, a couple of which were backed up to the loading bay. A group of forklift trucks stood in a rank at the other end of the compound where a bulk container was being hoisted on to a flatbed truck. Beyond it there were about twenty similar containers stacked in groups. And all this on Boxing Day. You didn’t have to be in the haulage business to see that Kerry Trucking was a huge operation.
    A security guard approached as we arrived.
    ‘Can I help you, sir?’
    I identified Dave and myself. ‘Who’s in charge here?’ I asked.
    ‘That’ll be Mr Bligh, sir. Mr Bernard Bligh. He’s one of the directors.’
    ‘Is he here today?’
    ‘Oh, yes, sir.’ The security guard smiled.