‘He gave this to me and asked if someone could call him when he’s allowed access to his mother’s house. I suggested he drop by the village hall to leave his details and have a word with someone. He said he would, but first he intended to visit the church to talk to the priest about funeral arrangements.’

James looked at the card: CHRIS DRAKE, FINANCIAL ADVISER.

James remembered reading somewhere in Lorna’s documents that her married name had been Drake.

He thanked the officer, pocketed the card and told DC Abbott that they would have a word with the son next.

Inside, the SOCOs had almost completed their work. Every inch of the house had been checked over, especially the kitchen where the smell of various chemicals assaulted the nostrils.

Items had been taken away for analysis and most surfaces had been dusted for fingerprints and swabbed for DNA traces. But it was clear to James that the killer had been scrupulously careful, just as he’d been in the field where Charlie Jenkins was stabbed to death.

The senior forensic officer told James that he would produce a report by the end of the day and make testing of all the samples a priority.

As the two detectives left the house, James took out Chris Drake’s business card and called the mobile number printed on it. The man answered on the second ring and James identified himself and asked if they could meet up. Drake said he was in Father Silver’s office at the church so James told him to wait there.

After hanging up, he turned to DC Abbott and said, ‘We can kill two birds with one stone. I was planning to update the priest on where we are. And I need to tell him that Gordon Carver now knows about the cards and the photo left in the church graveyard.’

Chris Drake was a slightly overweight man in his thirties with a round face and a full head of short black hair. He was sitting on the leather sofa in Father Silver’s office at the church when the two detectives walked in.

James could see that he was consumed by grief, his eyes bright with pain.

Father Silver had positioned two chairs so they were facing the sofa, and he invited James and DC Abbott to sit on them. Before doing so, James performed the introductions and offered his condolences to Lorna’s son.

The priest then sat next to Drake on the sofa and said they had been discussing his mother’s funeral.

‘I’ve explained to Mr Drake that in view of the circumstances it might not take place for some weeks,’ he said.

James was struck by how tired and strung out the priest looked. He assumed it was due to a combination of stress and the cancer that was destined to shorten his life.

James started by asking Drake how much he knew about his mother’s death.

‘The officers who came to see me at my home in Southend told me only that she’d been murdered by an intruder,’ he said as he tried to control the emotion in his voice. ‘I’ve learned more from the news, and when I contacted your office in Kendal, they said they would provide me with more information when I came to formally identify my mother’s body.’