‘I hope he doesn’t realise that we’ve asked him here so that I can give him a grilling.’

‘I’m sure he won’t, so long as you don’t make it obvious.’

‘I’ll do my best.’

She turned back to the oven and continued to stir the stew.

‘I just watched the news,’ she said. ‘They made it sound like you’re not getting anywhere with the investigation. Is that really the case or are you holding stuff back from the media?’

‘It’s true, I’m afraid, hon. Progress is slow. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. I spoke to Lorna Manning’s son today as well as Janet Dyer and Sonia Jenkins. Let me pour us each a glass of wine and I’ll bring you up to date before your uncle gets here.’

Wine poured, they sat down together.

‘You’ll be glad to hear that Janet Dyer is no longer a suspect. The card she gave you was in a batch she bought in the store,’ he said. ‘She even received one of those same cards herself from Ron Curtis. The problem is the store has sold quite a few of them so they’re all over the village. In fact, Sonia Jenkins also had one put through her door, but the message inside claimed her husband was a bad man and deserved to die.’

Annie snapped her head towards him. ‘Oh God, does that mean it was from the killer?’

He nodded. ‘Almost certainly. I’ve sent it to be analysed.’

‘But I don’t get it. Why keep sending out those same stupid cards? What’s the point?’

‘That’s the million-dollar question,’ James said. ‘It could be any one of a number of reasons. He likes playing games, he wants to generate as much fear and confusion as he can, or he just wants to draw attention to what he’s doing. It could also be that The Twelve Days of Christmas carol holds a special significance for him. Maybe that’s why he’s intending to target twelve people.’

‘If his aim is to get inside our heads he’s certainly succeeding,’ Annie said, her voice shrill. ‘He’s ramping up the fear factor by the hour. And that’s before the rest of the villagers get to know about the cards and the threats.’

‘That might not be long in coming,’ James said, before going on to tell her about the card that was sent to Gordon Carver.

‘I’ve persuaded him not to rush into print with it, but he won’t hold off for long and we can’t make him. Once it’s out there it’ll be a game changer for me and for the villagers.’

James watched the blood drain from her cheeks. It was one of the reasons he didn’t like to tell her too much. She became increasingly anxious with every piece of information he shared.

In a bid to strike a positive note he told her that Andrew Sullivan’s alibi checked out and that Daniel Curtis was in Kendal when Charlie Jenkins was murdered.

She took a moment to respond and did so after taking a deep breath.