‘So, yesterday, about ten in the morning, we shopped at Booths in Keswick for everything we needed for today. We try to stay as self-sufficient as we can, and we manage to an extent, but for a gathering we need extra.’

Kate and Rob waited patiently. Rob was the one tasked with taking notes. Fred carried on, with Sandra nodding. ‘We finished in Keswick about three in the afternoon because we stopped for lunch at the new organic place.’

‘So there’ll be parking and till receipts,’ Kate said. It wasn’t a question. Rob made a note of the restaurant name. ‘Carry on,’ said Kate.

‘We came home, unpacked the shopping. Then I began making all the bread rolls for today. That took me all afternoon,’ Sandra said.

‘So you didn’t travel south on the A591 towards Great How?’

‘No.’ The couple looked at one another again.

Kate had already checked CCTV footage for Carry returning north, and she hadn’t found any. There’d been no more record of her driving south after the next traffic camera at the Wythburn car park, so she had to have stopped between those two destinations. They’d already entered the number plates of everybody currently on the investigative list on the Mary Hales case, and Fred’s car hadn’t been down that way. Though it didn’t mean that he hadn’t driven another vehicle and Sandra was covering for him. It was unlikely, but they weren’t off the hook yet.

‘We need all the vehicle registration plates of your guests, as well as descriptions of their vehicles. Do any of them own a Fiat campervan?’

Fred and Sandra shook their heads.

‘Thank you both. One reason we came back, apart from as part of our inquiry into the death of the young journalist and to warn you of further press interest, was because a name popped up in one of the statements given by a guest here today and it’s of interest to us. Have either of you heard of a woman named Edna Beverley?’

‘Of course. Edna was a dear friend. She died of a broken heart after her son, William, went missing. They never found him. It was terrible.’

‘And that’s what the witness told us. They mentioned her because DI Porter was asking about past members of your group, and she specifically asked them about Kirk Junker.’

Fred and Sandra looked puzzled.

‘Well, the thing is that this afternoon, we received a phone call from one of your guests, wanting to add information, and that’s exactly what DI Porter told them all: if they remembered anything else, get in touch.’

‘Right,’ said Fred.

‘He told us that Edna had an on-off relationship with Kirk Junker too. Is this true?’

‘Crikey. I think that might have been before our time. We only came here from Shap ten years ago. Who told you that?’

‘Jock Harris.’