Jessica got up, and his heart leapt. I’ve said the wrong thing again. But to his surprise, she didn’t seem annoyed. ‘OK. Let’s do what you suggested a while back.’

‘Which was what?’

‘Start again.’

She waited. He let the words swirl around in his head. A feeling of relief washed over him. She smiled, and it reached her eyes. He was about to respond when there was a knock at the door and Maureen came through.

‘This just came for you, Charlie. Courier said it was urgent.’

She handed him an envelope and bustled out. Priest was about to open it when he realised Jessica was on her way out.

‘Dinner later,’ she told him. ‘I’ll text you. So you can get back to your libel action.’

She nodded at the envelope, smiled and walked out.

Priest watched her go before tearing open the note and seeing another time and date printed on a card. What does Jack want now? We only met yesterday.

Whatever it was, it was pressing. He had less than an hour before the meeting.

*

Li pulled up outside the hedge running adjacent to the Elias house near Tome and craned to see through to the other side.

‘Is this it?’ she asked doubtfully.

‘This is it,’ Georgie confirmed, unclipping her belt.

‘Are you sure you’re going to be all right on your own?’

‘I’ll be fine. Honestly. Go and see your friend and meet me here in an hour. I just want to take a look around.’

‘How do you get to the house?’

Georgie thought about it, scanning the hedge for the gap. ‘I kind of just fall through the hedge.’

‘OK. Be careful.’

She got out and waved her off before squeezing through the gap in the hedge and trudging up the incline to where the Elias house loomed over her. A breeze whistled through the trees and birds circled overhead – from here they could just as easily have been vultures.

South American police officers say that vultures don’t circle around roadkill. They circle around where roadkill will soon be.

Georgie shivered, and hurried up the hill and round to the back entrance like Charlie had suggested. The back door was locked and the windows were boarded up. All except one. On one small window near the edge of the house, the boarding had been partially removed. Perhaps some kids had broken it off to get inside. Whatever the reason, the glass had been smashed out and, although the opening wasn’t big and Georgie had to be careful not to cut herself on the shards studding the frame, she managed to squeeze through.