One contained part of a human hand.

Carry’s instinct was to run, but her exit was blocked by her host. She desperately looked around for another way out, but she knew there was none. The dogs barked and licked her hands. She pushed them away and screamed for help.

‘We’re five miles from our closest neighbour. No one will hear you.’

Carry stopped screaming and breathed deeply. Her chest heaved up and down and she made tiny whimpering noises. Her ears pounded with silence and her host smiled at her. Without thinking, she threw herself forward and hurled her whole weight at the sick fuck that she’d trusted. She had no time to question her foolishness as she charged ahead, but the dogs caught her from behind and felled her with their combined mass. She felt their teeth bearing down on her ankle and calves. Her jeans ripped and she squealed as one of the animals bit into her flesh. She tried to fight them off, but only ended up protecting her face from them. She felt their teeth and their growls as they became more aggressive and bloodthirsty in their attack. She tried to scream but no sound came out. The dogs bit her hands and she curled into a ball.

Then they were called away.

Chapter 31

‘I cannot believe that my sister talked to that journalist.’

‘Yes you can.’

Kelly and Johnny ran from the climbing centre along to Castlerigg stone circle. Something about visiting the place with Rob had renewed her fascination and it seemed the perfect opportunity as Josie enjoyed a climbing lesson. They climbed a lesser known road up towards the field and entered the gates. Perhaps a dozen tourists walked around the magnificent monoliths and took photos. Some climbed up on to them, as was permitted, and children ran around them. Kelly and Johnny ran around the full circle and stopped to admire the view.

Kelly had been shown the article by Johnny. She’d dismissed the witchcraft stuff as unhelpful and amateur, but the writer – Carry Tomlin – had managed to use the piece referring to Mary Hales’ death as a vehicle for also criticising the police. Her sister, Nikki, had been interviewed as part of the piece on police incompetence and Dave Crawley’s case was used against them.

Dave Crawley had been released early from a prison sentence earlier in the year and it had been Kelly who put him away. He won his appeal on lack of evidence and Kelly was livid. It happened: she couldn’t lose sleep over it, but it just so happened that Nikki was Dave Crawley’s wife’s best friend and she held her personally responsible for the downturn in her friend’s fortunes. The story was laboriously retold by Nikki to Carry Tomlin in glorious technicolour. And now it was in print.