He thought she was going to ask him to update her on the investigation. Instead she wanted to tell him that her Uncle Bill had gone AWOL again.

‘He’s not answering his phone and I haven’t got a clue where he is,’ she said.

‘Well, he won’t be going far without his car so I don’t think you need to worry.’

‘But I can’t help it. His behaviour concerns me.’

James felt sorry for Annie, but he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by her uncle.

‘Look, I’ll keep an eye out for him,’ he said. ‘If I spot him, I’ll call you. But have you checked to see if he’s at The King’s Head?’

‘Of course I have. I left there a little while ago. I spoke to Martha Grooms and she said he went out about eleven.’

‘He’s probably wondering around the village then.’

‘But she also told me that he went out last night after the pub closed.’

‘So what? He obviously got back safely.’

‘Yes, but Martha didn’t know what time that was. He could have been out all night. And who the hell knows what he got up to.’

It was a change in the tone of her voice that made James twig what she was getting at.

‘Jesus, Annie, do you seriously think that he might have something to do with what happened to Lorna Manning?’

‘I don’t know what to think,’ she said, her voice faltering. ‘But he also went missing on Saturday night, and that was when Charlie Jenkins was killed.’

James knew that Annie would have struggled with her conscience over whether or not to mention this to him, but he was glad she had.

‘You shouldn’t work yourself into a panic over this,’ he said. ‘There’s absolutely no reason to suspect that Bill had anything to do with either murder. You know he wouldn’t be capable of doing something like that.’

‘But you’re forgetting that I don’t really know him any more,’ Annie said. ‘The last time I saw him before this weekend was eighteen months ago when he was vile to me at Mum’s funeral. Now he’s like a stranger to me. And there’s another thing to consider. He arrived in the village on Friday, about the time that parcel was put on our doorstep. That in itself strikes me as odd.’

‘Then to put your mind at rest I’ll make some enquiries and ask my officers to look out for him,’ James said. ‘But in the meantime, you need to stay calm. If you see him or he turns up then call me right away. Okay?’

‘Okay.’

‘Are you going back home now?’

‘No. I’ve decided to pop along to the school and then to the church for Charlie’s service.’

James decided not to tell her that he’d just left the church. She would only freak out even more if she knew about Lorna Manning’s photograph being left on the grave.

‘Try not to overthink this, Annie. I reckon it’s more likely that the murders were carried out by an alien than your doddery old Uncle Bill,’ he said, trying to lighten the mood.