She drove straight past the Haven on her first attempt to find the place. She’d never gone in for satnav – more trouble than it was worth. By now it was late afternoon and the countryside surrounding the house was in shadow, so it was easy to miss the entrance. Vera could see why Dee hadn’t settled in the Haven. If she’d felt she was in alien territory a couple of Metro stops from Mardle, this would be way outside her comfort zone. This was wide, flat coastal country, where the wind blew straight from Scandinavia and only the Cheviots broke the horizon inland. Vera parked the Land Rover in the courtyard next to a blue minibus and tried to calm her thoughts. She’d been swept here on a wave of righteous indignation, angry on Dee’s behalf, but now she had to decide how she should play the meeting. She was still thinking when there was a rap on the window. She opened the door.

The woman was plump and cheerful and Vera recognized the voice from the earlier phone call that she’d made to the Haven. ‘Are you lost? Do you need directions back to the village? This is a dead end, I’m afraid, even though some maps show a way through.’

‘I’m not lost.’ Vera climbed out. Again she felt the stiffness in her knees. And they said that exercise was good for you. ‘I’m exactly where I wanted to be. You’ve already met my colleague, Joe Ashworth.’

‘And you are?’ Jane Cameron was on the defensive, but her smile didn’t shift.

‘Eh, pet, I’m his boss, Vera Stanhope. We’ve already spoken on the phone.’

‘And I explained that we have no vacancies at the Haven.’ The response was sharp. This woman wasn’t accustomed to having her judgement questioned.

Vera waved her hand. ‘No need to worry about that now.’

‘You’ve found other accommodation.’ Jane sounded relieved. ‘That’s good.’

‘No need for other accommodation,’ Vera said. ‘Dee Robson’s dead.’

They talked in Jane Cameron’s office. The house seemed unnaturally quiet. ‘What have you done with your women?’

‘Most of them are in town. Last-minute Christmas shopping. We don’t keep them locked up.’

‘How did they get there?’

‘We’ve got a minibus. I gave them a lift to Mardle Metro. They’ll ring when they want picking up.’ Hostility prickled between them. Joe would say they were two strong women marking out their territory, but Vera thought it went deeper than that.

‘I found Dee Robson in the flat that the social found for her when you chucked her out.’ Vera went first. ‘Lying on her back with a kitchen knife in her neck. Blood everywhere.’

‘And you blame me for the murder because I wouldn’t take her back here?’