‘Ros had decided to trace me, you know,’ she said. ‘After all that time, my daughter decided to trace me. They allow adopted children to get access to information on their real parents, but not the other way round. It’s one of the provisions of the Adoption Rules. I don’t know what she hoped to achieve by it.’ Maggie paused and let out her breath. ‘Yes, I do. She wanted to get whatever she could from me. Money. A convenient place to stay.’

‘When did she first contact you?’

‘Around the middle of September. She said she was in the area, but she didn’t tell me why or where she was living.’

‘It seems she was staying with Jenny Weston at Totley during that time.’

‘Yes, I found that out later. These animal rights groups have networks they communicate through. And when Ros arrived with nowhere to live, Jenny Weston offered to help. She had a spare bedroom in her house.’

‘You know a bit about Jenny Weston, after all,’ said Cooper, recalling the efforts Diane Fry said she had made to bring Jenny alive in Maggie’s mind.

But Maggie ignored the comment. ‘Ros came on a mission – a mission against dog-fighting. She was following a link from the area she came from, somewhere in Cheshire. When one dog-fighting ring was closed down, some of the men began to travel to Derbyshire, to Ringham Edge Farm. Of course, the dog-fighting was much more important to Ros than finding her mother. I was just a side interest.’

‘That’s not what she told her adopted parents,’ said Tailby.

Maggie shook her head. ‘I expect she resented them, too. No – she came with a purpose in mind; I was merely a useful accessory.’

‘But Jenny didn’t agree with what Ros wanted to do, did she?’

‘Apparently not. Ros was much more radical in her views than Jenny. She believed in direct action. In fact, she believed in violence.’

‘And that’s what led her into trouble in the end,’ said Tailby.

Maggie dropped her head. ‘I suppose it has to be my fault.’

‘Does it? Why?’

‘Because there’s no doubt she would have been raised differently if I had kept her with me when she was a child. Well, that’s obvious,’ said Maggie. ‘She would never have reached that stage if I had brought her up myself.’

‘There’s no reason to believe that,’ said Cooper.

Maggie just stared at them and didn’t trouble to discuss it. ‘Ros had an argument with Jenny Weston when she found out what Ros intended to do. There were angry words. And Ros walked out and came to me.’

‘How did you feel about that?’