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‘We are. We’re trying to find out how the killer knew she’d be at home.’

Poe talked him through what they knew so far.

‘Hashtag BSC6?’ Sparkes said.

‘You don’t know what it means, do you?’

‘No idea.’

‘Are you going to let us do our job?’

Sparkes nodded. ‘But can I ask that I supervise what your analyst is doing, and if I think she’s getting into sensitive areas can I ask her to stop?’

That didn’t seem unreasonable, and Poe said as much. Bradshaw had probably got everything she needed by now anyway.

‘What can you tell me about her job?’ Poe said.

‘Not everything, obviously, but basically Rebecca was our man on the ground, as it were. Contract management is done at a pretty high level but we still need people to work on site.’

‘What exactly did she do?’

‘The contract she was managing was for the strategic weapons system on the new SSBNs being built.’

‘SSBN?’

‘Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear,’ Sparkes replied. ‘Submarines basically. The navy has two types of nuclear-powered subs – those that are armed with Trident and those that aren’t. SSBNs are the former. The Dreadnoughts being built now are replacing the current Vanguard class. As well as managing the contract, Rebecca was responsible for liaising with everyone involved.’

‘Everyone at BAE?’

‘As well as the Royal Navy and the MoD. Even the Yanks.’

‘The Americans? I thought BAE only built British subs,’ Poe said.

‘They do, but the Americans own the design for the Trident D5 missiles and they need to know that our subs will be compatible with theirs.’

Poe processed what he’d been told. He still didn’t think Rebecca was murdered because of her work but it seemed she interacted with far more people than he’d first assumed. He briefly wondered if DC Pearson had been right: that the other murders were to disguise the one that mattered. Hiding her murder in a serial killing investigation. It had been done before. It was something to keep in mind.

‘Which program did you use to breach her computer?’ Sparkes asked Bradshaw. ‘I’d better report we’re vulnerable to it. Make sure our tech-heads can write in a fix.’

Bradshaw shrugged. ‘It doesn’t have a name.’

‘Where did you get it then?’

‘I wrote it.’

‘So, you’re good at this computer stuff?’

‘I’m good at everything,’ she said. And with that she lost interest and went back to what she was doing.

Poe pulled Sparkes away. ‘Better to let her get on with it. If it’s any comfort there won’t be another program like hers and she assures me Rebecca wasn’t hacked.’

‘That’s a relief, I suppose.’ He kept glancing over at Bradshaw. ‘I’ll still need to make a phone call.’

‘That’s one way to get rid of him,’ Poe said after he’d left.

Bradshaw nodded without looking up.

‘There’s no kettle but I can get you a drink of water if you want?’