Cooper tried his tea and found it weak and insipid. ‘Mrs Leach, did your husband have many visitors?’

She hesitated. Her face set into a stubborn line that reminded him for a moment of her husband’s expression. There must have been a time when they had something in common.

‘You’ve wondered yourself what happens in the big shed, haven’t you?’ he said.

Yvonne nodded, and she looked as though she might cry at the softness of his tone.

‘It was awful. The men started coming at night, after the boys had gone to bed. Warren warned me to stay in the house. But I heard the dogs, the snarling and the howling. I could imagine what was going on. He told me it was the only way to make some money to pay off the debts. But with people like that, something was bound to go wrong. He isn’t a very clever man. I knew they would take advantage of him.’

‘And what did go wrong, Mrs Leach?’

‘I don’t know. But one morning, after they had been, he was in a terrible temper. He was frightened, too. But angry.’

‘You don’t know what had happened?’

‘No, he never told me.’

‘How long ago was this?’

‘Oh, six weeks or so. I remember, because the men haven’t been back since then. They used to come every week. Every Sunday night.’

‘Why do you think they stopped coming?’

‘I always thought it was because of the Ranger,’ she said.

‘Owen Fox? Are you saying he was involved in this?’ asked Fry.

‘No, no,’ said Mrs Leach. ‘But he knew. I think he knows everything that goes on in the area. He came to the farm and asked me to use my influence to persuade Warren to stop it happening. My influence! He didn’t understand the way it was, of course.’

‘But why did he do that? He could just have reported it,’ said Fry.

‘He said he didn’t want to get Warren in trouble. He was worried it would be the last straw for Warren. The Ranger understood that.’

‘And did your husband take any notice?’

‘Not of me. Nor of the Ranger.’

‘But something made them stop,’ said Fry.

‘Yes.’

Fry looked at Cooper. He shook his head, and she frowned.

‘What about women?’ she asked.

‘They were all men, I think,’ said Yvonne. ‘But, of course, I never saw them.’

‘I mean other women your husband may have met.’

Yvonne Leach put down her teacup. She hadn’t drunk any of it. But then neither had the two detectives.

‘I thought you might mean that.’

‘You said he was highly sexed. Do you think it’s possible that he might have looked elsewhere?’