‘It was how she traced Jenny Weston,’ he said. ‘EVE located Jenny’s home in Totley for her. Then they had an operative track Jenny’s movements – he was seen by at least two of the neighbours. He followed her, and recorded her habits. Unfortunately, Jenny made the mistake of going to the same place too often.’

‘Here. Ringham Moor.’

Cooper nodded. ‘So Maggie knew exactly where she would be going that day, and she set off to meet her on the moor.’

‘But surely it must have occurred to Eden Valley Enquiries after Jenny was killed –’

He shrugged. ‘Discreet and confidential. No questions asked.’

‘Jesus. I’d string them up and break every bone in their bodies.’

‘You did a decent job on one of their operatives, by all accounts. For someone with an injured leg.’

Diane Fry recalled the memories that Maggie Crew had eventually produced for her tape. She had thought at the time they seemed confused, a mingling of more than one memory dredged from the depths of her mind. Now it occurred to her that Maggie might have been producing them solely to please her interviewer. At the next meeting, perhaps, she would have reached the critical moment, a shared trauma that would have bonded them permanently. She would have told of the rape twenty years ago – the rape that had left her pregnant with a female child that she hadn’t wanted. Unlike Fry, Maggie’s beliefs hadn’t allowed her to take the abortion option. But Fry hadn’t let her reach that point. She hadn’t needed Maggie Crew any more, or so she had thought.

‘Diane,’ said Cooper, ‘what’s the secret of keeping your memories buried?’

Fry looked up. ‘Avoiding those triggers, I suppose. The ones that set off the memories. The only way is to avoid them.’

‘Maybe.’

Fry studied at him carefully. ‘Had you something particular in mind, Ben?’

‘I’m going to move out of Bridge End Farm, I think.’

‘Oh.’

‘I need to get away from the place. There are too many reminders of the past for me to be comfortable there any more.’

‘But your family are there.’

‘I can visit them. But there comes a time when you have to be on your own. I think it’s come rather late in my case. Anyway, I don’t think Matt and Kate will be sorry to see me move out. They must think I’m in the way, but they’re too polite to say so.’

‘Where will you go?’

For a fleeting moment, Fry had a picture of Ben Cooper living in one of the little flats in the house on Grosvenor Avenue, a flat next to her own.

‘Oh, I expect I’ll find somewhere.’

Fry nodded. The vision had passed instantly. Cooper just wouldn’t fit in among the peeling wallpaper and the grubby carpets.