‘There’s a newspaper article suggesting that Mary’s, erm – religion – played a part.’

‘Hogwash! Who’s saying such things?’

‘I brought it.’ Joe unfolded the article that he’d removed from the paper and passed it to Fred, who scanned it quietly, tutting at sections and shaking his head.

‘My God! Who is this woman? Carry Tomlin! Bloody hell. Well, blow me down! Who does she think she is?’

‘She’s out to cause trouble, that’s for sure,’ Joe said. He felt wretched for his old friend.

‘She’s the one who Mary and I were discussing only last week. It was the last time I saw her – at a meeting. I was ranting on about this young idiot and what she had to say about us.’

‘Us?’

‘You know, our groups.’ Fred wafted his hand around, indicating that the defining edges of meaning surrounding various Pagan groups in Cumbria were blurry.

‘Could there be any truth to it?’

‘Why?’ Fred became agitated.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to indicate that I believed it to be true, of course I don’t, but the article makes sense. What if Mary did find herself in too deep? You know what happened last time.’

Fred sat back heavily in his armchair and looked away. Joe sat down. ‘What do you think?’ he asked.

‘He’s long gone.’

‘But I told you I saw his daughter.’

‘You were mistaken.’

‘No, I wasn’t, Fred. I would never misplace those blue eyes. It was her. I’m telling you, he’s back. They’re back. They might never have left at all for all you know.’

‘There was no reason for him to stay. He gave us all a bad name.’

‘But what if he is back? Mary rejected him. Not only that, it was very public, in front of everybody there, and he was obviously snubbed. We’ve all listened to enough crime reports to know that a jilted lover is the prime suspect in the vast majority of crimes. I think we need to tell the police.’

‘I’ll have nothing to do with it.’

‘You’ll have to if I tell them.’

Fred looked at Joe.

‘You’d do that to me, Joe?’ It was a moment that made Joe waver. Fred stared at him with hurt and fear behind his eyes. He tried to work out what Fred was more scared of: the police or Kirk Junker.

‘I can’t get her out of my head, Fred. She was terrified and probably high on something. We never saved her all those years ago. I feel it’s my duty to try now. And what if he did kill Mary? I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try everything to get justice for her.’

‘You barely knew her.’