These were issues that James had raised with Annie in recent months – though they hadn’t dampened her enthusiasm for the move – and he had got her to agree not to sell the house in Tottenham or rent it out for at least six months, until they had a better idea of what would happen in Kirkby Abbey. They also needed the time to find out if life in rural England would suit them both.

As well as talking to Annie about the villagers, James sent an email to one of his colleagues in the Met asking for a status report on Andrew Sullivan. He wanted to know where he was and what he’d been up to.

He then went online and pulled up photos of partridges. It didn’t take him long to establish that the poor thing in the box was a grey partridge that was pretty common in Cumbria. It was easily recognisable from its orange face and the dark horseshoe-shaped patch on its chest.

Of course, partridges were immortalized in the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas, but James reminded himself of the fact that the real ‘twelve days of Christmas’ is a period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the three wise men. It begins on Christmas Day and runs to January 6th.

So why had the person or persons who delivered the parcel alluded to it in the message? Was it part of a prank aimed at seizing his attention in the most dramatic fashion? Or was it a genuine warning that a killing spree would take place in Kirkby Abbey over the Christmas period?

Both James and Annie had a restless night, unable to sleep properly with so much on their minds. It didn’t help that a blustery wind caused the bedroom window to rattle noisily for much of the time.

James awoke at seven on Saturday morning and saw that a layer of snow had settled over the village. Chimneys sprouted through marshmallow rooftops and the street out front was devoid of tyre tracks and footprints. Their two cars, and those belonging to the neighbours, were little more than strange white shapes that looked bulky and out of place in the tranquil setting.

When he switched on the TV in the kitchen, the weather forecaster was saying that there was much worse to come. She used words such as blizzards and disruption to describe what to expect.

‘My advice is to be prepared and don’t get caught out,’ she said.

James had been looking forward to spending the first day of the weekend relaxing with Annie. The plan had been to see what was on offer at the farmers’ market in the village square and then to have a leisurely lunch at The White Hart.

But the parcel had created an unwanted distraction and was bound to occupy their thoughts throughout the day.

He made Annie a cup of tea and took it to her in the bedroom. She asked him what he was going to do about the parcel and he told her that he wasn’t sure.