He nodded miserably. ‘I was nineteen. I’m a different person now.’ He snatched at a clump of tall grass as we walked past. ‘I couldn’t feel worse about that night. Someone died because of my stupidity. I’ve spent the rest of my life regretting that, but there’s nothing I can do to change it.’ He rubbed his lower back. ‘And every time this twinges, I remember.’

Instinctively, my gaze dropped to my ankle. And as always, I remembered. The day I was partly responsible for my sister’s death was the day I broke my ankle. So I understood exactly what Daniel meant.

‘You saw the Pale Child?’ I said. ‘The night of your accident?’

‘Yes. But I don’t know who she is. Er … I need to tell you something. I should have done it on Monday, but I hadn’t realised it was important. Should I come into the police station tomorrow?’

That was a definite and clearly deliberate change of subject away from the Pale Child, but I wanted to hear what he had to say. And I certainly wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow. I felt like saying, Are you mad? Have you never watched Midsomer Murders? If you tell me you have important information and don’t spit it out THIS MINUTE, you’re a dead man!

‘Give me the gist of it now,’ I said. ‘And we’ll take a full statement tomorrow.’

A gust of wind tickled the bracken, and brought a waft of smoke with it. The fire blazed on the distant moor. It was creeping closer to Gritton.

‘I was the one who told the Animal Vigilantes that Violet was missing,’ Daniel said. ‘On Monday morning. I’m sorry. I was worried about Violet and I panicked and contacted Leona in case they’d taken her.’

‘You realised she was missing first thing?’ I’d had a feeling he was lying about that.

‘I saw Violet’s car. And she wasn’t there, but I saw her watch. I’m sorry. I rushed home and contacted Leona. I thought they’d done something to her. Leona wouldn’t tell me whether they had or not. But she said I mustn’t let you know I’d been in touch with her or you’d think I was in league with the Animal Vigilantes and that I’d hurt Violet. I didn’t think it was a big deal. Anna had raised the alarm by then anyway, and I knew you’d find the watch. But now I can see Leona wanted you to think it was them. To think that it must have been them because they knew about it so early. She wanted the publicity. But they only knew about it because I told them, not because they did it.’

I sighed. ‘Yes, that was quite unhelpful, Daniel.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘How did you have Leona’s contact details?’