‘Did you see where she went when she left here?’

‘No. I presumed she’d gone back to Back Rigg.’

She turned to her husband. ‘I couldn’t tell you,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know how you’d take it …’ Then she stopped because how could she explain to him her fear that he had never cared for Cassie, that he had tolerated the girl for all these years for Marie’s sake and that now he would be glad of the excuse to be rid of her?

Vic sat down beside her, awkward and purposeful. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said, ‘that we could fight. You read about cases in the papers. Care orders, wards of court. I’ve been thinking we could find a solicitor and fight.’

‘But you’d hate all that!’ she said. ‘The fuss…’

‘All the same,’ he said stubbornly. ‘ I don’t think it’s right for the child to be sent away.’

They looked towards Molly for advice and support. She stood up. ‘Wait,’ she said. ‘Give me a day. It might not come to that.’

And they seemed reassured by that. Almost happy. So when she left them to eat their meal she felt a terrible burden of responsibility.

Chapter Sixteen

George bought a first-class ticket for his return journey to Appleworth. It was six o’clock, the train was busy and he needed to think. He sat in the almost empty first-class compartment, his head back, his eyes shut so that his fellow travellers probably thought he was asleep. But he was considering the events of the day, quite certain that he knew now who had killed Ursula Ottway.

He had arrived at King’s Cross at mid-morning and phoned Lomax at his office in Westminster. It was a relief to find him there. It would be a long, wasted journey.

‘I’d like to talk to you,’ George said. ‘Perhaps you could spare me half an hour. It’s important. I’ve come to London specially.’

‘Not here, George,’ the MP said. ‘I don’t want you coming here. What would people say? You were always the one sent to sift out the bad boys, weren’t you? You were the one they sent to plug the leaks and find out who hadn’t declared all his interests. If you come here there’d soon be rumours that I’d been fiddling the petty cash.’

He laughed but was quite firm.

‘What’s it about then, George?’ he said. ‘ Fed up with retirement? Want me to pull a few strings and get you back into the old service?’

‘No,’ George said. ‘I’d like to ask about Kate Craven.’

There was a pause but no surprise.