He was the one who kicked off the conference by welcoming members of the press and the broadcast media.

‘We’ve invited you here this evening to answer your questions about the terrible events that have taken place in the Cumbrian village of Kirkby Abbey,’ he said. ‘As you are aware, a second murder was committed there last night. The victim has been identified as Miss Lorna Manning, the headmistress of the village primary school. This followed the murder on Saturday night of local publican Charlie Jenkins, who was killed while walking his dog.

‘You should know that we believe the two murders were committed by the same person or persons. Both victims received fatal stab wounds to the body and there is other circumstantial evidence, which I’m unable to share with you at this time, that indicates a link. I fully understand that people in Kirkby Abbey are very worried, and so we’ve set up an incident room in the village hall. Officers in cars and on foot will patrol the streets throughout the night. At the same time, a major investigation is under way, led by Detective Inspector James Walker, who is himself a resident in the village.’

There were lots of questions, but it would have been obvious to anyone watching that the police were short on answers. Annie was glad that they were at least acknowledging that the killings were linked even though they’d elected not to mention the threats in the Christmas cards.

Nothing she heard reassured her that this crisis was going to be short-lived. It was clear they feared there would be more killings.

Annie found herself reflecting on something Father Silver had said during the service earlier in the day.

‘The devil himself has descended on our small village, but we must not let his dark shadow extinguish all the light in our hearts.’

That was easier said than done, Annie thought, especially for the majority of people in the village whose faith in God wasn’t as resilient as Father Silver’s.

On the TV the story changed to dire warnings about the bad weather. Widespread disruption was predicted and councils were being advised to prepare for the worst.

Annie had never known the run up to Christmas to be so horrendously depressing. It was meant to be the season of peace and goodwill to all. But here in Kirkby Abbey it was like hell on earth, and soon the weather would make things even more perilous.

During all her years in London she had never been so scared or disillusioned, not even when James was receiving threats from that degenerate criminal, Andrew Sullivan.

It was getting to the point where she was thinking that she should never have persuaded James to move to Cumbria. What if it proved to be the biggest mistake she had ever made?

She went to drink some wine and realised that her glass was empty.

‘Just one more,’ she told herself as she got up and headed for the kitchen.