‘But something happened that night. Involving Daniel. I spoke to Bex again. She’s adamant she doesn’t remember anything else, and I believe her.’

The door opened and Craig stuck his head in. ‘We’ve got it. The evidence that Daniel Twigg killed Gary Finchley. We found Daniel’s phone. He sent a text to Gary asking him to meet in the woods the night Gary was killed, and fibres from his overalls were found on Gary’s clothes. And one of his hairs.’

‘What time was the text sent?’ I said.

‘Two p.m. Gary texted back to ask why Daniel Twigg wanted to meet, but there was no reply. And we found Daniel’s overalls – the ones that had left fibres on Finchley – in a bin not far from Daniel Twigg’s caravan. His boots were in his van, and they had blood on them, which we’ve analysed and found to be Violet Armstrong’s.’

‘Right.’ I wanted them both to go. I wanted to crawl under the table and cry for the person I’d thought Daniel was. That person hadn’t been real. He’d been entirely my creation. ‘Thanks, Craig,’ I said, and he headed off.

‘That’s it then,’ Jai said. ‘We just need to find Daniel Twigg.’

‘We still don’t know for sure that Violet’s dead,’ I said. I’d lost Daniel and my father. I had to hang on to the possibility that Violet might, just might, be alive. ‘What if Daniel became obsessed with her, and he’s kidnapped her and is keeping her somewhere? He could be with her now.’

Jai raised an eyebrow.

‘There are a few things that bother me about Violet’s drive to the abattoir,’ I said. ‘Is there a chance someone else drove that car? Mrs Ackroyd didn’t see the driver and there’s nothing on CCTV to identify who was behind the wheel.’

‘It’s not impossible,’ Jai said. ‘I managed to speak to Izzy. She didn’t know how far forward Violet has her seat, but she was sure Violet didn’t mind driving down narrow lanes. Nobody knows what route she normally took.’

‘Right. So why did Violet go that particular way to the abattoir? Maybe she didn’t. Maybe someone else drove that way precisely because there’s a camera. Because they wanted us to think Violet went to the abattoir. They might have known about insomniac Mrs Ackroyd – in a village that size, it’s possible. Also, Anna said Violet’s car was parked slightly further round than normal. Maybe it wasn’t her who parked it.’

‘But if she’s still alive, what’s with all the blood in the pig trough?’

‘Let’s say Daniel took blood from Violet, and shaved her hair, and then put the blood and hair in the trough to make us think she’d been killed and fed to pigs?’

‘Wouldn’t the blood clot?’