He bet most of the country wouldn’t have believed how people lived their lives, here on the fringes of the Pennines. ‘It’s not as if we’re living in a Third World country,’ they’d say. ‘There are cities only a few miles away, for goodness’ sake. You can practically see Manchester over that hill. Hi-tech industries and café society, a huge airport sending jet liners all around the world. How can anyone be living without electricity?’

But these local communities were conscious of the changes taking place around them. More conscious than most, he guessed.

Fairies and elves, spells and charms had been an integral part of life of the countryman, who wouldn’t have understood the causes and effects of droughts and floods, crop failures, or sickness in his livestock. Witches were blamed for evil in the Middle Ages, Celts had worshipped the head.

Lost in his own thoughts, Cooper only became aware of the nature of the silence when they were halfway to Rakedale.

‘What’s wrong, Diane?’

‘Nothing,’ she said.

He hated it when she said ‘nothing’ like that. Her tone of voice meant anything but ‘nothing’. It told him that he damn well ought to know what was wrong, without him having to ask her.

‘Come on, what’s the matter?’

‘I told you. Nothing.’

Well, at least that meant it wasn’t his fault. She’d never been shy about telling him when he’d done something wrong. Quite the opposite. So someone else had upset her.

‘This business with the skulls – is it what Mrs Dain meant about “the old religion”?’ asked Fry eventually.

‘That would be Old Religion – capital “O”, capital “R”.’

‘I doubt it’s in my dictionary, Ben, all the same.’

‘Actually, I think she might have been referring to a series of TV programmes that were made back in the seventies. The producers claimed to have found a community in the Dark Peak who still worshipped the old gods.’

‘Just a minute – I suppose that would be Old Gods, capital “O”, capital “G”? Are we talking Paganism here?’

‘Not exactly,’ said Cooper. ‘In fact, the people involved were mostly practising Christians, I think. No, it was said to be a sort of respect for traditional beliefs that didn’t conflict with their Christian practices. They believed in the old Celtic gods, but never mentioned them. The programme interviewed someone who called herself a “guardian”. She talked about a scattered community who still believed in the old ways. They didn’t name the small mill town she came from – but most local people could have a good guess.’ ‘That’s nearly thirty years ago. The world has changed a lot since then.’

‘Yes, even in … well, even in the Peak District.’