‘Because it’s totally bloody irrelevant?’ Craig said. ‘Coincidences happen. Or people make stuff up after the event. Oh yeah, he definitely said he saw the Pale Child. People love that shit.’

‘There was also a three-year-old kid who died back in the Eighties after seeing the Pale Child,’ Fiona said, ‘but I don’t have full details yet.’

‘It’s bizarre,’ I said. ‘Three people have died in the past after seeing the Pale Child – Lucas, Daniel’s younger brother, and this toddler. We know there’s a secret about the Pale Child that Gary told Violet, and now they’re both gone too. The Pale Child isn’t completely made up – we have the mask I found on the moor and the video, but that clearly can’t be the same person who was seen in the Eighties or Nineties, unless she’s no longer a child. So what the hell is going on? What’s the secret? And is someone so determined to keep it that they’re prepared to commit murder?’

I always made a point of chatting to the indexers. They sat at the end of the incident room typing everything into the HOLMES database. Statements, exhibits lists, forensic reports, etc. A good indexer knew a lot about the case. They knew the exact words witnesses had used, they listened to the briefings, they made connections. But historically they’d been ignored, so they didn’t always come forward. Some of the old-school detectives even used to send ‘the girls’ out of the room for the briefings. Very unwise.

I wandered over and perched against one of their desks. ‘Noticed anything?’ I asked. ‘Particularly about a secret in the village, or anything to do with the Pale Child?’

Donna looked up. The new indexer. Ex crime scene officer. ‘There was a reference to it,’ she said. ‘Might not be relevant, but …’

‘Doesn’t matter. What is it?’

‘I was typing a statement in the other day,’ she said. ‘From one of the house-to-houses. The woman was a talker. You know the sort.’

‘I do indeed.’

‘She was going on about her friend who used to live in the village but left years ago. Saying her friend had a son who went off the rails and there was a secret involving the son. That her friend had left the village because of it. The friend’s name was Gwen. And I saw a reference somewhere else to Daniel Twigg’s mum being called Gwen. I think it might be the same woman.’

My heart pumped a little faster. A secret. Possibly involving Daniel. ‘Okay. Potentially interesting. I’ve tried to read everything but don’t remember making that connection.’

‘It all sounded a bit mad and irrelevant, but if the son was Daniel Twigg, then I just thought … You never know.’