Several years ago, a little girl was brought in to the Penrith and Lakes Hospital with extensive injuries to her arms. The mother said she’d been self-harming because of bullying at school. The girl must have been around eleven years old, I guess. She was so scared.

You see, I recognised in her a fellow empath. She was hurting so badly but she wouldn’t tell me what happened. The records may still exist. It was the eyes that gave it away, Kelly. The way she looked at me: it was as if she was asking me to rescue her. Her big, beautiful, blue eyes.

I recognised the marks. They’re always the same, the symbols of harm dished out to children from their carers. I should know.

They walked out of hospital never to be seen of or heard of again. They gave false names, addresses and histories.

Odd, don’t you think?

Kelly put down the letter. She picked up the previous one and went to the last line about Mary’s animals and tried to remember when that information was made public. The date stamp on the letter was Saturday 10 September, the day after Mary was murdered, so it was feasible for Amy to know about the girl at Castlerigg: that had been reported the previous week, but the bit about the animals raised a flag. It was impossible for anyone to have learned so much information in that time, but Kelly was unaware if gossip had been posted online by neighbours or those who’d given police interviews. She read on.

You know what pain and misery does to a child. It’s the same with animals: you can torture them, abandon them and starve them, but they’ll keep appealing for your love.

We became friends.

Namaste x

The tiny hairs on Kelly’s arms stood upright and she closed her eyes. She willed herself to calm down. There was little in the correspondence that couldn’t be explained by clever manipulation of snippets from online news and gossip. But that’s what she was on her way to find out.

Chapter 41

Before leaving Penrith, Kelly had tasked DS Umshaw and DC Shawcross with following up her series of brief interviews at Fred O’Reilly’s house this morning. Contrary to Kelly’s expectations that the guests would want to flee, Kate and Rob found them mostly still in attendance at the address when they visited shortly after Kelly’s departure.

It had been Kate who spotted it first.

They were a mixed bunch, and Sandra O’Reilly was surprised at yet another visit from the police department in the same day. She looked weary when she answered the door. Kate introduced them both and Sandra recognised Rob from the previous interview.

‘Something new?’ Sandra asked.

‘Yes, actually. Could we come in?’

Sandra moved aside and scolded herself for forgetting her manners.