Evan drove straight to Yorkshire after leaving work the following afternoon; his mountain bike, and a rucksack containing a flask of coffee, a sandwich, and a pair of binoculars in the boot. When Marie had questioned why he was taking the bike, he’d told her he was planning on persuading his dad to go for a ride, like they’d used to do in the old days: father and son, pedalling into the village to have a couple of pints and a game of darts at the pub. He’d also told her not to wait up in case it turned into a late one, but he knew she’d be plastered by the time she got home from the karaoke bar, so he doubted she’d even notice what time he got home.

The rush-hour traffic was heavy when Evan hit the motorway, and the drive took twice as long as usual. It was already pitch-dark by the time he got there, and he couldn’t see a thing when he left the lights of the village behind and headed onto Marsh House Lane. Fortunately, he knew every pothole and bump like the back of his hand – and also knew the exact spot at which a vehicle became visible from his dad’s place. When he reached that point tonight, he turned his headlights off and drove blindly on until he came to the tractor path at the perimeter of a disused field a mile back from Yvonne’s cottage. Parking out of sight behind a hedgerow, he looped the rucksack over his shoulders before completing the journey on his bike.

Yvonne’s pigs kicked up a fuss when he rode into the back garden and, guessing that they hadn’t been fed again, he hopped off the bike and filled their troughs before climbing in through the window he’d jemmied open the previous day. Holding his nose when the stench hit him, he cursed under his breath when the cats swarmed in and snaked around his ankles. Batting one off when it started clawing its way up his leg, he used the light from his phone’s torch to find and share out a couple of tins of food.

Leaving the moggies to fight over it, he took the binoculars out of the rucksack and looped them around his neck, then rooted through the drawers in search of the spare key his dad had left there after changing the broken lock. When he’d found it, he let himself out and hopped over the back fence, then waded through the field until he reached the low fence at the back of the farm.