‘That was what gave me the idea, them having the same colour hair. I know I was mad, Mr Wexford, I know that now. I was crazy, but you don’t know how scared of Paddy I was. I went over to that pram and I bent over it. I unhooked the cat net and took the other baby out and put Matthew in.’

Until now quite silent in her corner, Polly Davies gave a suppressed exclamation. Wexford drew in his breath, shaking his head.

‘It’s interesting,’ he said, and his voice was frosty, ‘how I supposed at first that whoever had taken Karen Bond wanted her and wished to be rid of her own child. Now it looks as if the reverse was true. It looks as if she didn’t at all mind sacrificing Karen for her own child’s safety.’

Leilie said passionately, ‘That’s not true!’

‘No, perhaps it isn’t, I believe you did have second thoughts. Go on.’

‘I put Matthew in the pram. I knew he’d be all right, I knew no one’d hurt him, but it went to my heart when he started to cry.’

‘Weren’t you afraid someone would see you?’ asked Polly.

‘I wouldn’t have cared if they had. Don’t you see? I was past caring for any of that. If I’d been seen I wouldn’t have had to go home, I’d have lost my job, but they wouldn’t have taken Matthew from me, would they? No one saw me. Did you say her name was Karen? Well, I took Karen home and I fed her and bathed her. No one can say I didn’t look after her like she was my own.’

‘Except for delivering her into the hands of that ravening wolf, Paddy Jasper,’ said Wexford unpleasantly.

She shivered a little but otherwise she took no notice. ‘Paddy came in at six with Tony. The baby was in Matthew’s cot by then. All you could see was its red hair like Matthew’s. I remembered what that girl had said about her never crying in the evenings, and I thought, I prayed, don’t cry tonight, don’t cry because you’re in a strange place.’ Leilie lifted her head and began to speak more rapidly. ‘I cooked egg and chips for the lot of them and I went out at half seven. I got back at a quarter past twelve and she was OK, she was fast asleep and she hadn’t cried at all.’

Wexford said softly, ‘Haven’t you forgotten something, Leilie?’

Her eyes darted over him. He fancied she had grown a little paler. She picked up Matthew and held him closely against her. ‘Well, the next day,’ she said. ‘Today. Paddy went off out early so I thought about getting the baby back. I thought of taking her to the priest. I knew about the priest, when he went out and when the lady cleaner came, I knew about it from Mum. So I got on the bus to Kingsmarkham and just by the bus stop’s a shop where they’d put all their boxes out on the pavement for the dustmen. I took a box and put the baby in and left her on the doorstep of the priest’s house. But I didn’t know how I was going to get Matthew back, I thought I’d never get him back.