Sonia lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and said, ‘I want to know if it’s true that you’ve been having an affair with my husband.’

Janet pulled a face. ‘No, it bloody well isn’t. Where the hell did you get that idea?’

‘You told one of the elderly folks you visit in the village,’ Sonia said. ‘He told someone who mentioned it to someone else and this morning it was passed on to me.’

‘Well it’s total rubbish,’ Janet insisted. ‘I don’t sleep with married men. Surely he’s told you it didn’t happen.’

‘Until I was blue in the face,’ Charlie said, clearly embarrassed. Then to his wife: ‘Look, Sonia, it’s either a malicious rumour or a huge misunderstanding. But whatever you think, this is not the place to talk about it.’

Sonia’s face changed in an instant, as though she was coming out of a trance. She sucked in a shaky breath and started to speak, but the words tumbled out as wet sobs.

‘Let me get you home,’ Charlie said, and this time when he ushered her towards the door, she didn’t resist.

After watching them go, Janet turned to Annie and said, ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’

Annie shook her head. ‘Me neither. Are you all right?’

‘I will be once I’ve calmed down.’

Annie noticed that she was shaking and her face had paled.

‘Is there any truth in what Sonia claimed?’ Annie asked.

‘Of course not,’ Janet replied. ‘You heard what I told her. I reckon someone is out to make mischief.’

She reached for another glass of wine and downed it in one go.

‘I’d better go and find the twins,’ she said. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow, if that’s okay.’

‘That’ll be great. You take care.’

Annie was relieved that the altercation hadn’t spiralled out of control. But it had unsettled her.

She kept her feelings to herself as she bid a fond farewell to the children and their families, then helped Lorna and the other teachers to clean up.

It was eight o’clock when she left the school and headed home. She forced herself not to think about what had happened, but she was in no doubt that it would be one of the topics of conversation when Janet came to the house tomorrow.

It was a beautiful Cumbrian night, the sky crammed with an array of bright stars. Annie’s hooded parka kept the cold at bay as she walked along the narrow streets, safe in the knowledge that she wasn’t about to be mugged, stabbed or confronted by Andrew Sullivan.

She found comfort in the fact that it was very rare for something really bad to happen in a place like Kirkby Abbey.

CHAPTER THREE

Almost two hours had passed since James had unwrapped the parcel with the dead partridge inside. The repulsive ‘gift’ and the card that had come with it were still causing his mind to race in all directions.

He just wasn’t sure what to make of it. Was it a genuine threat or someone’s idea of a sick joke?