Murfin fumbled for a switch on the wall. ‘Ah. Let there be light.’

‘A utility room of some kind.’

The chest freezer in Farnham’s utility room was full of neatly wrapped packages. Fry lifted a few out and fingered their contents. She knew the shape of a joint of meat, or a packet of frozen sausages. But these were strangely sharp and lumpy. She put on a pair of latex gloves and unwrapped the nearest freezer bag. Even before she’d peeled off the final layer, she could see a line of exposed teeth grinning through the film. A second later, she uncovered a single, dark eye.

‘Jesus. What’s this?’

Cooper came to stand at her shoulder, and watched as she slowly exposed the frozen object. Patches of fur had darkened and stiffened around the head. A pair of tiny, clawed feet were held rigid, close to the chest.

‘A rat,’ said Fry. ‘What sort of person would keep a dead rat in the freezer?’

‘No,’ said Cooper. ‘It’s a squirrel.’

Fry’s hands shook a little as she placed the frozen body on top of a plastic Wall’s ice cream box. She covered the animal’s eyes, though she knew it was a mad notion to be afraid that it might turn its head and stare at her accusingly for disturbing its rest.

‘Oh, sorry,’ she said. ‘There I was, thinking there might be something odd about having a rat in the freezer. But keeping a frozen squirrel among your pork chops – that’s perfectly normal, of course. Doesn’t everybody do it?’

‘Well, it depends what it’s for, Diane.’

‘Oh, yes?’

‘Mr Farnham probably knew a taxidermist. There’s one quite near here, in Bakewell. They’re always on the lookout for well-preserved animals.’

The DCI entered the house and watched them working for a few moments, not being critical but assessing their performance.

‘I understand you have a suspect in custody, DS Fry,’ said Kessen at last.

‘Yes, sir. Mr Jack Elder. But he’s being questioned on allegations of the sale of illegal fuel, and his vehicle was logged by patrols monitoring a dogging site near Sheldon. He has no connection with Tom Farnham that we know of.’

‘He does now,’ said Kessen. ‘We ran the registration number of Farnham’s Subaru pick-up through the intelligence system. One of the other vehicles monitored at the dogging site was his. Mr Farnham and your suspect were present at the same time.’

A few minutes later, Fry and Cooper were heading north towards Sheldon. Cooper didn’t know Godfrey’s Rough, but he had a vague idea where it was, somewhere near the White Peak village of Sheldon.

‘The monitoring patrols recorded Farnham’s pick-up and Elder’s lorry at this Godfrey’s Rough at the same time, but there were no other vehicles present,’ said Fry when she finally came off the phone.