Father Silver frowned. ‘But do you really believe he’ll keep it to himself?’

‘He assured me that he would, at least for the time being. We’ve agreed to have another conversation tomorrow.’

The priest mulled it over for a few seconds, then said, ‘Well, I suggest you treat whatever he tells you with extreme caution, Detective. I’ve known Mr Carver for some years, and I most certainly would not consider him the most trustworthy of individuals.’

After James left the church, he stopped on the pavement to check his to-do list. Thankfully, the snow had eased off and so had the wind. But fat feathery flakes were still dancing in the air like white-winged butterflies looking for somewhere to land.

His intention for today had been to re-interview three people – Sonia Jenkins, Janet Dyer and Bill Cardwell. But now he took out his pen and added Giles Keegan to the list. He would drop in on the retired copper at some point and tell him what Lorna’s son had said. His response would determine whether there was a need to take it further and interview him under caution.

Though James wanted DC Abbott with him when he spoke to Janet about the card she gave to Annie, he was quite happy to go and see Sonia Jenkins by himself. As the walk back to the village hall would take him past The White Hart he’d see if she was in.

As he set off, he sent a text to Annie asking her if she’d listened to the voice message he’d left about getting Bill to come over to the house. She replied immediately:

Just spoken to him. He’ll be here at six for dinner. And this time he’s promised not to forget.

James tapped out a reply:

That’s great, hon. It’ll give me plenty of time to talk to him xx

As James walked through the village, the silence pressed against his ears. The place was dead, like a ghost town, and despite its obvious charm, which was enhanced by the Christmas decorations, he could sense a dark malevolence lurking beneath the surface. It was surreal, like being on the set of a creepy movie where nothing is as it seems.

It was obvious that many of the villagers were now afraid to leave their homes. And he could hardly blame them. There was a killer in their midst and in all likelihood he would strike again.

It made James feel guilty. He needed to up his game, start making more progress. Almost fifty hours had passed since Charlie Jenkins was found dead in the field on Sunday morning. And Lorna’s Manning’s body was discovered on her kitchen floor around twenty-six hours ago. Yet James felt they were still flailing about in the dark. They had no firm leads, no highly credible suspects, and they faced the grim prospect of soon having to deal with another murder.

The killer was taunting them with his Christmas cards and messages, while moving around the village like the invisible man.