‘I was in Sheffield and I saw him leaving this woman’s house,’ Fiona said. ‘But when I asked him what he was doing, he lied about it. And he’s obviously been lying to his wife, saying he got that injury on his face at work. So now we don’t know what to say to her. Do you like being beaten up by prostitutes, Craig? Is that it?’

Craig sighed. ‘She’s a counsellor, Fiona. I’ve been seeing her about some stuff I’ve had going on. Stuff I didn’t want to discuss with my wife. I didn’t particularly want to discuss my personal problems with you either. Happy now?’

‘Not really,’ Fiona said. ‘Why didn’t you want to tell your wife? She’s worried about you.’

‘That’s my business.’

‘But, Craig,’ I said. ‘She does have a habit of involving us.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘I know. I’ve spoken to her about that. It won’t happen again.’

50

Bex pulled open the door. ‘Oh. Hello.’

‘How are you?’ I said.

‘Oh, you know. Recovering from nearly dying in a fire. My daughter and two friends from childhood are dead, and my sister’s in a coma. I’ve had better weeks, to be perfectly honest.’

So she’d heard Daniel was dead. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘Could I come in a moment?’

She took a step back. ‘Of course. Dad’s driven up to the far pig barn.’

She led me into the kitchen and we sat at the table. The heat in there was oppressive, and Bex looked like all the life had been kicked out of her. Her hands were bandaged. ‘Did you get checked over at the hospital?’ I said.

She nodded. ‘I’m fine. Lungs okay. Fingers and hands will mend. But was it really Daniel? Did he kill Violet and Gary?’

My phone rang. I hesitated. It was Fiona. ‘I’d better take this,’ I said, and picked up.

‘We’ve got some results back on that barn fire,’ Fiona said. ‘Apparently there are some concerns.’

‘What kind of concerns?’

‘That it might have been started deliberately. It’s not clear cut. There are no traces of accelerant, but they want to talk to Kirsty about why there was so much straw around. The origin was the wildfire, which had spread to the woods nearby. But there was effectively a trail of straw from the woods to the barn. The fire bloke said he thought the insurance assessor would be pretty interested in that. It was an old barn, and it could be quite convenient that it’s burnt down. The barn and all the livestock are well insured, apparently.’

‘Well, he can’t talk to Kirsty right now. She’s in a coma.’ I mouthed an apology to Bex, and walked out into the hallway, shoving the door shut behind me with a foot. I lowered my voice. ‘So we might be talking arson?’