‘He’s C of E. Priest of the church over the road. St Bartholomew’s. But that’s what he calls himself.’ Kate could hear the antipathy in her own voice and wondered if the detective would pick up on it. Instead Vera made a show of looking around the room, at the pile of school books on the dresser and the music stand in the corner.

‘How old are your children now?’

‘Chloe’s fourteen and Ryan’s just sixteen.’

‘Could we speak to them, please? Nothing formal, just a quick chat here in the kitchen, to find out when they last saw Margaret. Joe here can ask the questions. He’s got bairns of his own, similar sort of age. That’s right, isn’t it, Joe?’

The good-looking sergeant smiled. ‘A bit younger,’ he said. ‘Sometimes they behave like teenagers, though. Not a stage I’m looking forward to.’

So Kate had no choice but to call the kids in, although by now all she wanted was food and more wine. It felt like some sort of conference, all of them round the table, everyone a bit tense and serious. But the children did her proud. Ryan answered the questions politely and even Chloe gave the detectives her full attention. ‘Tell me about Margaret.’ That was how the sergeant started off. The kids stared at each other, and in the end it was Ryan who answered first.

‘She was lovely,’ he said. ‘When we were little she’d take us out. And I still liked spending time with her.’

‘Doing what?’ the detective asked.

‘She was into good causes,’ Ryan said. ‘Sometimes I’d help her collect. Rattle the collecting boxes outside the supermarket.’ He paused. ‘Old ladies like me, and they were always willing to give.’ Kate thought that was true, but it wasn’t the whole story. Ryan felt safe with Margaret. When he was younger she’d sat with him through the nightmares.

And then Chloe chipped in with a story of her own, about Margaret taking them to the theatre in Newcastle, their first trip to a grown-up play. ‘She knew about stuff. Plays and films. Most Saturdays when Mam was busy she’d take me to the library. She encouraged me to do well at school. “Women can be anything they want.” Didn’t she say that all the time?’

Kate nodded.

‘What about now?’ Joe Ashworth asked. ‘Now that you’re older. Were you still close?’

A pause.

‘We didn’t spend so much time with her,’ Chloe said. ‘But we knew she was there. If we needed her.’

‘I still helped out,’ Ryan said, ‘but not so much. I’ve got this part-time job at the boatyard now.’

They had never considered of course that Margaret might have missed their company or their confidences. That the older woman might have needed them. Kate thought adolescents were the most self-centred people in the universe.