Page 62 of A Game of Lies

‘He has to have known his attacker,’ Leo says. ‘There’s no sign of a struggle, so Miles must have opened the door then sat down to carry on editing. He was obsessed with preventing leaks – there’s no way he’d have let someone watch him work, unless he knew them.’

‘The killer waited till Miles was sitting down again, then attacked him from behind when he was less able to defend himself,’ Ffion says, and, in spite of her assurances to DI Malik that she’d rather work alone, she feels a buzz inside. This is her favourite part of an investigation – better, even, than slapping the cuffs on someone. Turning over the clues, piecing together the events leading up to the crime. The back-and-forth as they toss ideas around. Ffion realises she’s smiling, and is glad Leo’s gaze is still on the spot where Miles was sitting when he was killed.

‘Yes. Although it might not have been that calculated.’ Leo has one hand raised towards the chair, as though he’s trying to conjure up a suspect. ‘Miles could have said something that made his visitor snap.’

‘Or maybe he was editing something that triggered the killer?’

The volume on the TV screen is still muted, and Ffion sees Ceri, Henry and Lucas talk silently around theExposurefire pit. For them, nothing has changed. She wonders if Owen – in his grand plan to take over from Miles – would have told the three remaining contestants about the murder right away, or only as they emerged from camp. Anything could happen in the real world, and those three would only know about it if someone chose to tell them. Was that what Miles had liked about his job? The chance to play God?

‘We can’t wait for the tech analysis,’ Ffion says. ‘We need to know what Miles was working on when he died.’

Leo nods. ‘Agreed. Owen knows how to operate the editing equipment, right?’

Ffion thinks of the cameraman’s keenness to take over as producer. ‘I’m not sure I trust him.’ She gets out her phone. ‘I’ll tell George to give Caleb a shout.’He already knows all the software, Seren had said.

‘DCI Boccacci’s on her way,’ Leo says. ‘By the time she gets here, we need a full breakdown of where everyone was when Miles was killed – including the three contestants in camp. They’re unlikely to be suspects, since they’re locked in the compound, but Ryan’s already proved that you can get out if you’re determined enough.’

‘Does that mean you don’t think Ryan did it?’ Ffion is tapping out a message to George.

‘I’m keeping an open mind. On that note, although all the indications are that the murderer was known to Miles, we shouldn’t close down lines of enquiry. Miles said that the application process forExposurewas fierce, and that he received abuse from some of the rejected applicants.’

Ffion knows where he’s going with this. ‘I’ll get a list of everyone who applied.’

Through the open flap of the CSI tent, she sees the farmhouse door open. Caleb and George appear, hesitating at the worsening rain, before making a dash for it.

‘We can see if any of them have a criminal record or markers for violence,’ Ffion continues. ‘Perhaps start with applicants who live within a fifty-mile radius?’

‘Ideal. And I want full PNC checks on all the contestants and crew,’ Leo says. ‘Lucas’s conviction – when was it and what was it for? Has he been in trouble since? Vicar or not, he gets looked into in as much detail as the others. Understood?’

‘On it.’

‘Boccacci’s got the analysts looking at social media to see if any of the threats levelled at Miles online are credible,’ Leo says, just as Caleb appears. He has a little more colour in his face than when Ffion saw him earlier. ‘Don’t touch anything,’ Leo warns him. ‘I just need you to talk Ffion through the computer system. I need to know exactly what time Miles’s last edit was, as well as what was being streamed from camp at that exact time.’

Ffion is pulling protective covers over her shoes. When she enters the crime scene, she doesn’t touch Miles’s chair, but leans awkwardly over it, using the tip of a pen to follow the instructions Caleb issues from the doorway.

‘Now press the up arrow twice,’ Caleb is saying. ‘If he hadn’t been so insistent on no one helping him, he wouldn’t have been on his own when the murderer came. I told him I knew the software, I said I’d do all the basic stuff, to free up his time, but he wouldn’t let me.’ He wraps long, lean arms around himself. ‘If I’d been at that second deck, he might not be dead.’

‘Or we might be zipping you into a second body bag,’ Ffion says. ‘So there’s that.’ She calls to the others. ‘The last edit was made just before ten.’ She looks at Caleb. ‘What time would Miles usually get back from his run?’

‘Between 10.30 and 10.45. He pretty much always did the same route.’

‘So let’s say it’s eleven by the time he’s changed and at his desk,’ Leo says.

Ffion nods. ‘That fits. It was maybe quarter past when I heard audio clips – I remember thinking that he was back from his run. He must have been replaying what he’d done before he went.’

‘And he shouted just before 11.45,’ George says. ‘I noted the time when Leo was kicking the door in.’

‘I want to establish everyone’s whereabouts between 11.15 and 11.45,’ Leo says.

‘What was the edit he made before his run?’ George says.

Ffion turns around. ‘Caleb? This is the computer he worked on, right?’

‘Yeah, he only used the other one for streaming. A waste, when I could have been—’

‘How do I find it?’ Ffion says, before Caleb can go off on one again.

The teenager’s fingers press the air, like a pianist relying on muscle memory. ‘Right-click,’ he says. ‘Then control seven – no, eight. There. That’s every edit made, with the time it was made.’

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