‘Interesting. How did you get into that?’

‘I trained as a nurse, then worked as a health visitor. I always enjoyed the community stuff most.’

So she would make a natural confidante for Angela. But if the field centre warden had told Sarah she was pregnant, why hadn’t Sarah passed on the information to the police straight after the woman’s body had been found?

The door opened and Perez was standing there. ‘So this is where you’ve been hiding.’ His voice was light, but Fran could tell he’d been worried. He didn’t like her being on her own in the North Light. Well, tough. No way was she going to spend another day with his parents. ‘I’m just going to fetch Angela’s mother from the airstrip,’ he said. ‘Do you want to come?’

‘No, thanks.’ She grinned at Sarah. ‘All this domesticity, I think we deserve a coffee.’

They had coffee in the kitchen to the background smell of yeast from the rising pizza dough.

‘Did Angela ever talk to you?’ Fran asked. ‘She didn’t get on with Jane or Poppy. You’d have thought she’d be glad of another woman around the place.’

‘I don’t think she liked women very much.’ A pause. ‘I don’t think she liked anyone.’

Outside, the sky was dark and another storm of sleet passed over, rattling against the windows, bouncing inside the chimney breast.

‘Is your husband out in this? Jimmy said the birders were obsessed, but they must be mad.’

‘John loves being out.’ Sarah looked at her over the rim of her mug. ‘Even in bad weather. Birdwatching has been his passion since he was a child. Sometimes I resented it. It took up so much of his time. It was as if he were defined by it. I felt rather excluded.’

‘And now? Do you still resent it? You’re here after all.’

‘I suppose if you love someone, you don’t stop them doing the things that make them happy.’

‘That’s just what I think.’ Fran looked up, smiling. ‘I feel exactly the same way about Jimmy and his work.’

‘But it’s not easy,’ Sarah said. ‘Sometimes you feel you come second place to an obsession.’

‘What do you make of the other guys here? Are they all obsessives?’

‘I’m not sure about Ben. He’s more into the science, the conservation, than the rare birds. John did a piece on him once when he worked for Greenpeace. Ben was very radical then. I think he’s calmed down a bit, but the passion’s still there. He lives what he preaches. He’s vegetarian. He doesn’t wear leather. Angela used to tease him.’

‘She was a meat-eater?’

‘Oh, yes,’ Sarah said. ‘A predator in every sense.’

‘Did she prey on your husband?’

‘What do you mean?’ The woman looked up, shocked.