‘Someone told you, aye?’ Diane looks surprised. ‘That’s the one. I heard it a few times. Down at the Black Horse. Whether it’s true or just one of those stories.’ She resettles herself on the trunk, stretching out her legs as though they are cramping up. ‘Well, this guy – this bad manny we’re talking about – he hears that story in the pub the other month, his friend’s telling him it, and when he hears the ending, he doesn’t look right. Everyone who hears it gets a bit freaked out by that story, you know, but his face. It was different. He looked like he had seen a ghost, or whatever it is they say. He started sweating. He was worried. He wasn’t scared. He was worried. Like he was gonna be sick. That was what I thought anyway. The man telling the story, he was drunk, and he saw his friend’s reaction and he started saying, Don’t worry, I was having a laugh. It wasna my dog, it was my friend’s. It’s always somebody’s friend’s. Didn’t hear much more, but he left quickly. So I was telling this to Ann-Marie on the phone and she got all wound up about it. She wanted to start looking in the woods, questioning the guy. All sorts. Had all these plans. She said, This proves it, meaning his reaction, I knew he did it. She kept saying, I knew he did it. Then she got that tattoo and she got, you know, suspended. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she did all that stuff to get sent back here.’

Lauren looks around her. ‘The man. You think – he … killed someone?’

‘Yeah, that’s what we were thinking. And we know him.’ She raises her eyebrows. ‘We all know him. She wanted to talk to him. Get a confession, get proof, I don’t know what. Get to the bottom of it. That story, his reaction, it’s not going convict someone on its own, is it?’

Lauren looks at her. She doesn’t understand.

‘Never mind. So she had this plan. And she got carried away. We had an argument. But this is where we usually meet. Here.’

‘You should tell the police.’

‘Yeah … I think I will.’

‘I saw this house, way up the track. It was weird,’ Lauren says.

‘Yeah? Where? I only know the Loop.’

‘I’m too tired to go. It’s cold. Maybe I won’t be able to find my way back.’

‘Another walk’ll soon warm you up. C’mon. You want to find her, don’t you?’

It takes some time, fumbling through the pre-dawn grey. Everything looks the same to Lauren at first; then she recognizes the way the ferns make an ‘S’ shape and starts on the right track. ‘It’s up here. Come on.’