‘Yes, well, to be honest, Fi could have been going out with a choirboy and Fergus Holland, and her father too, to be fair, would have had a problem,’ he said. ‘The men in that family are extremely possessive of the women. Fergus acts more like a bodyguard than a brother. The dad puts Fi on a pedestal, but he’s a bit less obvious about it.’

‘How do you mean?’ Tom probed. ‘Is this something you’ve noticed yourself, or is it commonly known?’

Bart shook his head.

‘It’s no secret. That’s why Fi kept everything from her family, I’d guess. There was trouble a few times, Fergus coming into pubs in the village and dragging her home. We got called in once or twice when he started fights with a couple of local lads, accusing them of screwing his sister – yep, those words and loud enough for everybody to hear, including poor Fi.

‘He’s always been a bit funny but he went off on one when she had the wee one last year. Got drunk one night in his local – I was there too, as it happens. You should have heard the filth coming out of his mouth about her. Disgusting. She was a young girl. Entitled to have a bit of fun. And to be honest, I think the more upset he got, the more she slept around. Just to prove a point.’

‘Jesus,’ Michael said. ‘Sounds messed up.’

‘I know. Richard doesn’t need to go around swinging his fists. He’s an important man – if you get me. You wouldn’t want to be getting on the wrong side of him if you want a job in the county. They mollycoddled and suffocated that girl, the whole lot of them, and as payback, she told them nothing. Well, they’re paying for it now.’

‘It’s hardly their fault she’s gone missing,’ Tom interjected.

Bart crossed his arms, his posture defensive.

‘Sorry. I don’t mean to sound flippant. Of course they don’t deserve this. All I mean is that, you always knew … I don’t know how to say this without it coming out wrong –’

‘Try,’ the inspector said.

‘Well, if you’d known her, you’d understand. Something was always going to happen to Fi. You could just see it coming – like a car crash. She pushed her boundaries, was always looking to provoke a reaction, in any form. Everything at home was safe and cosy, but that girl liked danger. And she sought it out. Even when she came to regret it.’

‘Regret what?’ Tom asked, noting the sergeant kept slipping into the past tense for Fiona. He already had her dead and buried. The inspector hoped he wasn’t speaking like that to her parents.