It was almost evening by the time George had returned from HQ and Inspector Stevens got his team together for an update.

‘Let’s start with the family, shall we? Jackson, what you got?’

‘Well, I’ve just had a very interesting conversation with the drug squad in Colwyn Bay. The local force put me on to them. Apparently, they’ve been to the farm after an anonymous tip-off. Found a whole cannabis growing operation up there and they arrested a guy called Edward Roberts.’ He held up a printed mug shot for everyone to see. ‘He’s Luke Roberts’ cousin, apparently. They’re waiting for his solicitor to turn up, then they’ll be interviewing him.’

Stevens took the picture and looked more closely, glanced at Jackson.

‘I’m just wondering… the description the girl at the café gave us. Could this be the man she saw with Luke Roberts?’

Jackson smiled. ‘Way ahead of you. The Welsh drugs team have done an ANPR check on his car over the last week, to see if they could spot drop-offs or associates who might be involved. Because there’s obviously a network of people selling the stuff. Anyway…’ He paused for effect.

‘He’s been up here, hasn’t he?’ Lockett was too impatient for the punchline.

Jackson nodded. ‘ANPR caught him coming up the M6 on Friday and going back again late last night. Well, technically it was very early this morning.’

‘We’ve got to put him on the persons of interest list then.’ Stevens wrote himself a note on the board. ‘Well done, Jackson.’

‘I’ve not finished yet.’ Jackson’s eyes were shining, clearly delighted with what he’d managed to find out. ‘The other thing you need to know is that the local police didn’t have time to get to the farm before the raid. But the drugs guys said that only Edward Roberts was there. No sign of anyone else.’

Stevens frowned. ‘So where did the rest of the family go? Isn’t there Mr Roberts’ parents and his sister and her couple of kids living there?’

Jackson shrugged. ‘Nobody knows where they are. And if Edward Roberts knows, he isn’t saying. Maybe they had a tip-off that the raid was coming? That’s the only thing I can think of. The guy I was speaking to had only just started working on the case, but he knows our investigation is connected now, so he’s going to keep us up to speed.’

Stevens nodded and turned to Lockett. ‘So, how did you get on?’

‘The guy in Dumfries thought it was probably Mr Roberts and the children that he saw, especially when I sent him more pictures. But the more I pressed him for details, the less sure he became.’ She pulled a face. ‘To be honest, he sounded pissed when I spoke to him last night and not much better this lunchtime. I don’t think we can rely on him as a witness.’

‘But we also can’t discount that he may be right,’ Stevens said.

She nodded.

‘I’ve found something,’ George said, eager to have his turn. ‘I’ve looked through the contacts on Mr Roberts’s phone and then I went through birth and marriage records and all that stuff. And I’ve found another couple of relatives. In Ireland. Seems they’re his first wife’s grandparents. Her only living relatives. She lived with them for a time when she was growing up and used their address as her home address when she and Mr Roberts got married. Their marriage certificate is from a parish near Cork.’

Lockett got up and went to her computer, started tapping on the keyboard. ‘Just had a thought,’ she said as she typed, then leant back as she waited. She nodded, looking pleased with herself. ‘So, let’s suppose Mr Roberts was going to see his only other living relatives. If he was in the Lake District, where would he sail from?’

The men looked at her, frowning.

‘Cairnryan, that’s where! It’s in Dumfries and Galloway, north of where the guy thought he spotted them at a petrol station.’ Her eyes were bright. ‘It was them, wasn’t it? I bet it bloody was.’ She picked up her phone. ‘I’ll check the passenger list.’

A couple of hours later, Lockett and George were on their way to Ireland, retracing the steps they now believed Mr Roberts and his family had taken. They were working on their own time now, the trip outside their brief, but having started the case, the whole team was keen to see it through to the end and this lead was too strong not to follow up.

George had managed to locate Anna Roberts’ grandparents in the residential home where they both lived, and having spoken to the manager, Lockett was feeling hopeful – it seemed they both had bright minds, even if their bodies were failing them. Maybe Luke still kept in touch with them? That’s what they hoped to find out. It was their last lead to follow up and if it didn’t go anywhere, then at least she’d know that she’d done a proper job on the case before HQ took it over.

Although Luke and his family hadn’t appeared on the passenger list for the ferry on the Friday, Lockett had worked out the journey times up to Cairnryan and found that it was perfectly possible they were aboard, if the sighting of them in Dumfries had been genuine. Jackson had scrutinised the passenger list and although there was no Luke Roberts among all the families travelling that night, there was only one male passenger with two children in tow. A Mr Lucas Bright, with his children Tilly and Cai. And on that basis, Lockett and George had set out.