‘Something about Kirk Junker’s name: that’s Germanic isn’t it?’

‘Prussian actually, and no, he isn’t. He’s more Essex I’d say.’

‘Really?’ Kate got out Fred’s photofit of Kirk Junker and held it up. Some of the group recoiled. Jock sat stock still.

‘He liked to think that he was exotic. The hair is dyed and he dressed up like some bohemian prince, but he’s an Essex boy. The name was made up.’

Kate hung her head in exasperation with this tight-knit bundle of loyalties and secrets. She made a note to contact Essex Police with his artist’s impression.

‘You could have told us that sooner.’

‘You never asked.’

‘That’s why we can’t find him,’ Kate said. The group was silent. Rob shook his head and leant back on the wall.

‘Carry on.’

‘Like I said, we call Easter Beltane. It’s when summer emerges and life returns to the land after the spring equinox. Some occultists believe that “bringing in the May” means performing certain sordid rituals. Edna thought Kirk capable of it.’

‘Capable of what?’

‘Using the innocent to sacrifice in celebration.’

To Kate, the euphemism was clear, but she’d have to get him to be more specific in private and get him on the record.

‘Why didn’t she tell the police?’ she asked.

The group mumbled quietly together. Kate was stunned.

‘Wouldn’t any of you report a fellow member if your child went missing?’ Kate looked around the group. To her amazement, they were considering their answers.

‘She was scared of him,’ Jock said.

‘But if the police could have apprehended him and found William…’

‘It doesn’t work like that, detective. You’re missing the point. She feared the spirit of Kirk more than the agony of never finding her son.’

Kate looked at the ground, and tears dampened her eyes. She thought about her girls and how tortured Edna must have been.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Jock said. ‘Edna told me before she died that Kirk had invited her and William to join him for lunch. He took them to a hotel. At the time of William’s disappearance, the appeal on TV reminded a hotel worker to come forward and give a description of a man who she’d seen with the boy at the hotel the day before May Eve.’

‘And still Edna didn’t tell them about Kirk?’ Kate asked.

‘She believed that William went of his own free will.’

‘What? He was twelve! And why didn’t you come forward when she confided in you?’

‘I did. I wasn’t taken seriously.’

‘What? When was this?’

‘Goodness. Years ago. Edna died in 2012, it was shortly after that, you’ll find it in your police records if you look, and if you don’t, then it wasn’t even logged.’