Dan wasn’t looking forward to asking his next two questions. ‘We know that Patrick had a row with a fifteen-year-old guy at a youth club. This lad filed a formal complaint about him, and he lost his volunteer post. Do you know anything about this?’ He was careful here not to mention the Hayes brothers.

She drummed her fingers on the worktop. ‘He told me he was volunteering there and some weeks later said he’d been sacked. He was cagey about it, and it made me wonder whether he’d got back into drugs.’

‘Drugs were mentioned, but Patrick strongly denied all the allegations.’

‘Christ. It gets worse and worse.’ She pulled a chair out from the kitchen table and thumped down on it. ‘As if him being killed isn’t bad enough. It’s upsetting for his family to have all this crap dragged up again. Did you see what that bloody reporter wrote in the local paper?’ She covered her face. ‘Amanda saw it. Read every word.’

‘I’m sorry.’ He gave her a few moments, and then said, ‘Did anything happen, or did he mention anything about drugs, that made you believe he’d got back into them?’

She was shaking her head, and through a voice thick with distress, said, ‘That’s what I don’t understand. I kept asking him. Each time he said no, he was never going back.’ She faced me now, tears streaming down her cheeks. ‘And each time I believed him.’

Dan nodded. ‘I’ve got a couple more questions, then I’ll leave you in peace. Has Patrick ever been in trouble for starting a fire?’

She recoiled at the question. ‘No-o.’ Her tone was suspicious. Irritated. ‘You don’t think he was involved with the arson, do you?’

‘We’re pursuing a number of hypotheses.’ They weren’t going public with the mask and tongue elements of the crime yet so as to reduce the likelihood of copycat crimes and false confessions. ‘Do you know if he had much to do with internet forums and social action?’