‘Oh?’ She ran her hand across her mouth again, and kept it there for a moment. To hide an inappropriate smile or some other expression; Cooper couldn’t tell. The woman’s eyes certainly weren’t smiling. He began to describe Jenny Weston. He showed Mrs Leach the photo. She took it in her hand and looked at it for a long time. When she handed it back, there was a smear of lipstick on the edge of the print.

‘No, no,’ she said. ‘I never saw her.’

‘Did you see anybody else come by this way? Yesterday afternoon?’

‘People are always coming by. It’s a right of way, the track there. We take no notice of them, as long as they don’t bother us.’

‘It must have been fairly quiet yesterday, I suppose. Not many walkers.’

‘Yes. Quiet.’

‘I just thought, if it was so quiet, you might have noticed somebody more.’

Yvonne Leach seemed to be losing interest, or was thinking about something else. ‘There was the other one, too. A few weeks ago.’

‘Yes. She was attacked near the Cat Stones, we think. Up by the tower somewhere.’

‘It was me that found her, you know. That time.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘She was in a terrible state. Who would do a thing like that?’

‘I’m afraid we don’t know.’

‘Is it the same man this time?’ she asked. And she covered her lips again. She used both hands this time, as if afraid her mouth was running out of control.

‘I’m afraid we just don’t know,’ said Cooper.

He saw that she had rubbed at her mouth so much that the lipstick had been removed completely, except for a small smudge in one corner of her lip. He turned to walk away. But as he crossed the yard, Cooper looked back and saw Yvonne Leach fold her handkerchief and begin to dab anxiously at her mouth all over again.

It was obvious the woman was in trouble, but what could he do? When he spoke to Warren Leach next, he could mention his wife’s condition, but he couldn’t hold out much hope that the man would listen. He could talk to the Social Services, and say he was concerned about the welfare of the two boys in the household. But he knew his concerns would be a low priority for them – they were overwhelmed with more urgent calls on their time. They were so stretched that they could only respond when something had already happened, when things had gone too far. They acted when it was already too late.

But Ben Cooper understood that. It was what the police did, too.