“Mrs. Massie,” he said, “I’m Sergeant Hunter from the Northumbria police. Could I have a few words with you?”

“Yes,” she said. “What’s wrong? There’s not been an accident?”

“No,” he said. “ It’s nothing like that.”

She took him into the house through a back door into a kitchen that smelled of lentils and garlic. She rinsed her hands under the tap.

“I’m sorry I panicked,” she said. “My husband’s away on business. I hate the thought of him driving down the A1. You hear of so many accidents. Would you like some tea? We don’t drink coffee, I’m afraid.”

He nodded.

“How can I help you?” she asked. In the garden the boys were splashing each other from muddy puddles, but she made no attempt to stop them. He thought his mother would have skinned him alive if he’d dirtied his clothes like that.

“We’re conducting an investigation into certain planning irregularities that might have taken place when the estate over the road was built,” he said. “ I understand you were involved in opposing the development.”

“I certainly was,” she said. “It’s a dreadful eyesore. It’s about time someone put a stop to Henshaw. It’s too late for us, but it might stop some other village from being ruined.”

“Were you aware while you were running the campaign that some of Henshaw’s tactics might be dishonest?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “ Not exactly. Everything seemed to be going as we had expected until the builder appealed to the Department of the Environment inspector. It was a terrible surprise then when Henshaw won.”

“Were you involved in the campaign all the way through?”

“Oh, yes,” she said angrily. “Even when everyone all around me seemed to be losing interest. I kept going to the bitter end.”

“What do you mean that the people around you lost interest?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “ The village just seemed to give up and accept its fate.”

“It wasn’t that one or two prominent members of your committee dropped out?”

She shook her head. “No,” she said. “It was nothing like that. The committee remained remarkably united. They were very supportive.”

There was a pause. Hunter drank his tea.

“It couldn’t have been that at the end of the campaign you all got”—he hesitated, searching for the word he wanted— “complacent? You thought you would win so you didn’t bother to put up much of a fight?”