‘Well, they’re no help, so I keep watching. Nothing more happens till near two o’clock, when another bloke turns up in that shopping cart.’

He pointed further down the track, past the two police vehicles, to a small white hatchback Hawkins hadn’t noticed before, parked almost out of sight beside the end cottage. She squinted at it through the emergency lights’ glare. ‘That was the victim’s car?’

‘Yeah.’ Worthington turned back to the house. ‘The one who’s in there.’

Frank dug in his jacket, produced a notepad. ‘Can you give us a description of the first man?’

Worthington sucked in some of the cold night air. ‘From that distance, son? You’re hoping, ain’tcha.’

‘We’re not looking for eye colour.’ Hawkins tried to help. ‘But a rough idea of age, hair and clothing is useful.’

Their subject’s head cocked and the shuffling went down a gear. ‘It was cold yesterday, so they were both wearing winter coats. First one had his hood up, mind, so I couldn’t see his hair. He was average build, dark trousers, might’ve been jeans. Second bloke was younger, thinner, and his hair’s blonde, but you’ll see that for yourselves.’

‘OK.’ Hawkins took over. ‘Did the first man have any means of transport?’

‘I just clocked him wandering this way up the track.’ Worthington drew imaginary lines in the air to denote direction. ‘No idea where he came from. Could have had a car with him, I suppose, but I never saw it.’

‘Fair enough,’ she said, masking her disappointment. ‘What happened then?’

He sighed. ‘Eff-all for at least three hours after the second geezer turned up, at which point I was back on the phone to the agent, explaining that now there was two of ’em trespassing in there, probably setting up a camp for immigrants, or a bloody brothel, and that they needed to send somebody down pronto. I waited, but no one showed.’

For the first time, Hawkins noticed that he was breathing hard. Perhaps rural life was short on excitement. She checked her watch, noting that the ten minutes Smith had estimated before they’d be allowed inside the house were almost up.

She decided to hurry things along; they could always re-interview Worthington once they’d seen the body. ‘Did you see the first man leave?’

‘Nope.’ His face creased. ‘It was dark soon enough. A bit later on, I saw some brake lights out behind these trees, but that could have been anyone. A few of the locals use the tracks over here from time to time, but it’s best to be sure, so I called the local plod, ’cept no one seemed to give a crap.’ He half smiled, raising his chin at the uniforms standing nearby, stomping their feet to stay warm. ‘Interested now, though, ay?’

Hawkins ignored his last comment. ‘And?’