Call connected at 13:13.
‘Hello, this is Detective Sergeant Gabe Martin.’
‘Yes, hello. This is Benedict Hogan. I hear you’ve been trying to reach me.’
‘We have, Mr Hogan, for several days. Can I ask why you didn’t get back to us sooner?’
‘I’d gone on an impromptu ski trip with my family and broke my phone the first day out there. Took it as a chance to have a tech detox. Had no idea anyone would need me.’
‘I see. Can I ask where you were on the night of the 9th October?’
‘I was with Teddy. Terence Dunlow, that is. I own a place in Cornwall. We meet there several times a year.’
‘What were you doing there?’
‘We, ah. Well. We’re in a relationship, of sorts. We were connecting, after a while without seeing each other.’
‘Over the night of the 9th or during the day, was there any point when Terence talked on his phone, or were there any periods when you can’t account for his whereabouts?’
‘We don’t see each other a great deal, so we make the most of the time we have. We spent a couple of minutes apart, here and there. He didn’t seem overly interested in his phone until his father summoned him home. We argued then, and it’s the reason I went off skiing. Didn’t want to mope around without him.’
‘Do you know anyone called Karl Biss?’
‘Doesn’t ring any bells.’
‘Terence didn’t talk to you about the estate groundskeeper at all?’
‘We don’t tend to talk about Teddy’s homelife.’
‘Thank you, Mr Hogan.’
‘I really am dreadfully sorry that it’s taken me so long to get back to you.’
‘It’s fine. It’s all worked out in the end.’