Fry flicked through the list she was given. She could see what Gavin meant – most of the names sounded East European. She wasn’t familiar enough with the different nationalities in that part of the world to tell where exactly they might be from, but the officers taking details had helpfully filled in the nationalities, too. Polish, Czech, Slovakian. Apart from two, who were Irish nationals, none of the construction crew would have English as a first language.

Then Fry corrected herself. Gaelic was being restored to Ireland these days. The two Irishmen might not consider English their first language, either. It was advisable to tread carefully on these issues. She didn’t want to be sent on diversity training.

‘Several of these men give the same address in Macclesfield,’ she said.

‘Yes, it’s some kind of workmen’s hostel or B&B,’ said Murfin. ‘According to the foreman, most of them are employed by an agency and they move around the country, wherever the work happens to be. Just at the moment, they’re living in Macclesfield. Tomorrow, the moon.’

‘Gavin, round up a couple of uniforms and speak to all these men again. I want to know which of them was working near Jamie Ward when he uncovered that body. Jamie says that one of them ran up to him when he shouted, but he can’t remember who. I’d like to find out.’

‘OK, I can do that.’

Murfin trudged away again, looking miserable. Fry seemed not to notice.

‘This woman is worrying me,’ she said to Cooper. ‘Not knowing anything about her is very frustrating. It means we can’t piece together any relationships she had, or formulate any theories about how she died. It’s possible she committed suicide, or died accidentally. And then somebody buried her.’

‘Deliberately?’ asked Cooper.

Fry laughed. ‘Is it possible to bury a person accidentally?’

‘On a farm? Well, yes. Somebody might be standing in the wrong spot and get in the way of a trailer load of silage, or the slurry hose. People get killed on farms all the time. But you’d generally know you’d done it. Even if you were looking the wrong way, or you didn’t hear them scream over the noise of your tractor engine, you’d soon notice they were missing. Well, wouldn’t you?’

Fry stared at the ground. ‘It might depend on who it was that got buried. Nobody seems to have noticed this woman missing, did they?’

Cooper nodded. ‘You know, despite what they say, I think everyone in Rakedale knows everyone else.’

‘Yes, I agree. At least it means there’s no need to spend our time looking for connections with the Suttons. An individual who didn’t have a connection would be the one to stand out.’