Kirkwood was beginning to look uncomfortable. ‘I – erm, I couldn’t be sure. Summertime when nights were light I think it might have been Ellison, but in winter when we all wanted to get off home after our shift it was probably Smith.’

‘And the other lad?’ Tannerson asked.

Kirkwood shook his head. ‘Don’t know, sir. He used to come and go. I think he onny came to see Jim; he was just a bairn. Mebbe nine or ten, about ’same as one of my lads. He allus seemed to be at a loose end. I thought he was Jim’s brother when he first started coming, but seemingly he wasn’t. I think they met in ’workhouse. So where is he? I suppose he cleared off after ’fire, did he?’ Then he added, ‘Does he know about Jim? Has he been to ask about him? He might have been his onny friend.’

Tannerson put his hands to his forehead and pressed hard, emitting a deep sigh. ‘Depending on what you choose to believe, Kirkwood, it would be nice to think they are having great sport together in some other place, but I can’t answer that question; I can only tell you that a young boy’s body was found in the mill after the fire and we can only assume that it was Jim Smith’s friend.’

‘Benny.’ Lizzie, who had been sitting quietly listening, finished the sentence for him. ‘We don’t yet know his other name. But we hope that the vicar will agree to bury them together.’

Kirkwood’s face was grey and he backed away to the door. ‘Excuse me, please,’ he said. ‘I need some air.’

Tannerson followed him out and found him sitting on the top step. He sat down next to him. ‘It’s bad news, isn’t it? If I’d been aware of what was happening, things would have been different. Both lads are on my conscience; I was slack with discipline, leaving it to others, trusting them to uphold my standards.’

Kirkwood blew his nose. ‘I was on ’point of saying summat several times,’ he admitted. ‘It didn’t seem right that such a young lad had responsibility for ’whole building, but Ellison – not that I’m blaming him, he allus said he had your ear. There was no use arguing wi’ him, in any case,’ he said bitterly.

‘Things are going to change,’ Tannerson told him, ‘so I hope you can hold on, maybe get temporary work for the time being? I’m waiting for confirmation from the insurance company and then from the corporation that I can start rebuilding. Plans are being drawn up with engineers, draughtsmen and builders, so once we have everything in place we should be almost ready to start. I’ll need a foreman,’ he added. ‘Ellison won’t be coming back.’ He glanced at Kirkwood. ‘You’ve been here a long time.’