‘Has Stewie found anything else, something that could be a murder weapon?’

‘I don’t think so.’

Gillard thanked her and hung up. The case had just got more complex. How did the two fingers missing from Rissington Man end up in the compost heap at the vicar’s home? And was the vicar responsible?

Within an hour Surrey Police had a CSI team at the Bourne Lane home of the Rev Matthew Cleaver. Once team leader Kirsty Mockett had identified the two fingers in Mrs Ransome’s fridge as human, the priest was asked to accompany officers to Reigate Police Station. PC Sarah Noakes was left behind to interview Stewie Ransome at home about the circumstances of the discovery. Although it was nearly eleven p.m. before the interview began, his mother was present, and he was in familiar surroundings. The officer had only last week completed her course in interviewing vulnerable adults and was keen to put what she had learned into practice. Stewie was thirty-three, and apart from his Down’s syndrome suffered from mild learning difficulties. Mrs Ransome said that he had been doing odd jobs like gardening for many years for people up and down the lane.

‘Is Matt going to get into trouble?’ Stewie asked.

‘That depends, Stewie,’ PC Noakes said. ‘But it’s important for you to tell us the truth.’

He looked to his mother, who nodded vigorously back at him.

‘I swear by Almighty God—’

The officer smiled. ‘You don’t have to do that now, we’re just asking some basic questions. So Stewie, when was it you began to work on Rev Cleaver’s garden?’

‘I start at two o’clock,’ he replied, looking to his mother for guidance.

‘No, I mean on which day?’

‘I mow the lawn every other Monday after I come back from college, unless it’s raining, then I do washing up.’ Gradually, PC Noakes teased out that Stewie had been asked to dig over the compost heap the previous Friday, but had only begun to work on it on Sunday afternoon.

‘So describe the compost heap to me, as it was before you started work?’

‘It’s a great big plastic box full of bits of grass and weeds that I’ve dug up before.’

‘So this box was above the ground?’

‘Yes, but the grass had gone all black and heavy at the bottom over the months, which makes it good for plants.’

‘And did Matthew say why he wanted you to dig it all out?’

‘For a community garden. He wanted the whole corner of his garden to grow vegetables. I was supposed to dig in the compost, and move the big box to another place.’

‘So where exactly did you find the fingers?’