‘He’s changed a lot, but I can just about recognize him. There’s a look around the eyes and the shape of the jaw. It’s quite distinctive. A Sutton chin. I think there are Sutton ears, as well. A little bit protruding.’

‘They’re like jug handles,’ said Fry bluntly. ‘But the hair cut doesn’t help, I suppose. I’ve heard rumours of those short back and sides.’

‘Right. The man sitting on the tractor is Derek Sutton, who died twelve months ago.’

‘Yes, I can see the ears. He was the superstitious one.’

‘That’s right. He was a few years younger than Raymond, but he seems to have gone a bit strange over the years.’

‘He never married, did he?’

‘No. Nor Raymond, either.’

‘Old bachelors living together. They were bound to go a bit funny, as you call it. Especially at Pity Wood Farm.’

‘His older brother didn’t have much influence over him anyway, so far as I can gather. In fact, Derek’s superstitious beliefs seem to have been a kind of rebellion against Raymond’s piety. It suggests to me that Raymond was a sort of father figure – their real dad died when they were only boys, you know. Old Mr Sutton was killed in the Second World War, serving with the Sherwood Foresters in North Africa. I suppose Alan wouldn’t even remember his father at all.’

Fry looked up. ‘Alan?’

‘Alan Sutton.’

‘Who?’

‘There were three brothers. Alan was the youngest.’

Cooper took one hand off the steering wheel and put his finger on the photograph. ‘He’s here, behind the tractor. Unfortunately, we can’t see him very well, because he’s standing in a shadow from the barn. It was summer – you can tell that from the way they’re dressed, even if the date hadn’t been on the back. August 1968. I bet they were about to start the harvesting.’

‘Why has no one mentioned a third brother? And where is Alan now?’

‘I phoned Ned Dain while I was at the heritage centre. He was very evasive, and when I pressed him he had to go away to consult his mother. But they finally agreed that Alan Sutton just upped and left the village one day, seven or eight years ago. They reckoned he couldn’t bear living with the other two. The Dains hinted that they treated him badly.’

‘Why have they been so shifty about mentioning a third brother? They could have come straight out with that information when we first visited the Dog Inn.’

‘Yes, they could.’