Fry knew from PC Palfreyman’s story that Joanne Stubbs, as she then was, had already been considered odd in the extreme by the villagers of Rakedale. But there were subtle and peculiar dynamics in rural relationships that had to be respected. There was certainly some kind of unspoken code that she didn’t understand. Probably that was why she had never been accepted the way that Joanne Stubbs finally had. It was because she refused to acknowledge the code.

‘A bit of a Catch-22 situation, Mrs Brindley.’

Joanne tugged at her costume. It was only a short tunic, and she was wearing nothing but tights below it.

‘I got over it. There’s no need to drag it all up again now. It’s in the past, as far as I’m concerned.’

‘Do you think the person responsible might have been Jack Elder?’

She sighed. ‘Yes, it’s possible.’

‘Have you mentioned this to your husband?’

‘As I said, it’s in the past.’

In Fry’s experience, the people who said ‘It’s in the past’ most often were those who couldn’t wipe out the memory of a traumatic experience. Repeating the mantra seemed to give them some degree of reassurance, like licking an open wound. They used the words as a defence against recollection.

Yes, those bad memories could be a killer.

Cooper had left Liz waiting in the car for him while he talked to Raymond Sutton. She was very tolerant, but by the time he came out of The Oaks, she was starting to sulk a bit. Understandably. He was neglecting her badly.

Cooper apologized as best he could. ‘I came to the reception after the baptism,’ he said. ‘I ate some sandwiches and sausage rolls, because you said you had to stay for a while. Now this was something I had to do.’

‘All right. It’s the job. And did you speak to the old man?’

‘Briefly. They were having a Christmas party.’

‘I hope you stayed away from the mistletoe.’

‘I tried.’

‘So what’s next, Ben?’

He hesitated, conscious of dangerous ground in front of him, but too late to avoid putting his foot right in it.

‘I’ve got to phone Diane Fry.’

Liz was silent for a few moments, staring out of the window. Cooper watched her, fingering his mobile phone, wondering when it would be safe to start dialling. Though her face was turned away from him, he could practically see the conflict going on in Liz’s mind. It was visible in the tenseness of her shoulders, in the way she fiddled with the buttons of her coat, in the ragged breaths that steamed up the damp window. She knew it was the job, and she was aware of its importance to him. But even so …

Finally, she turned back to him.