Father Silver talked for several more minutes about Charlie and how he and his wife had made such a success of The White Hart pub. Then he moved on to Lorna Manning and described her as a kind and committed teacher who had dedicated herself to helping the children of Kirkby Abbey.

By now, most of the women sitting in the pews were sobbing, including Annie, and so were some of the men. Several prayers were then read out, followed by a few minutes of silent reflection.

Annie was pleased that she’d made the effort to be here, and she felt that what the priest had said had been both moving and relevant. But it pained her to think that this was just the start of the grieving process. There were the two funeral services to come – or perhaps more, if James and his team failed to find the killer soon.

It took a while for everyone to leave the church. Annie was among those who held back in order to offer her condolences to Sonia.

‘Thank you so much, Annie,’ Sonia responded tearfully. ‘I’m grateful that you and so many other people came along.’

Back outside, Annie noticed that the wind had picked up and was blowing dark, threatening clouds over the village. She could feel the cold sting of it on her face as she walked through the churchyard. She made a point of stopping by the graves of her parents. They were next to each other, close to the path. The granite headstones were both black, and the graves themselves were covered in glass and stone chippings.

Annie closed her eyes and silently told her mum and dad how much she missed them and how sorry she was that she had stayed away for so long.

There was so much more she felt like telling them. She wanted her father to know how sorry she still was that she didn’t reconcile with him before he died. And how grateful she was, in hindsight, that he had stepped in to stop her from ruining her life.

And she wanted her mother to know that she was sorry that she hadn’t given her a grandchild while she was alive. It was something she deeply regretted, even though it wasn’t her fault.

But she knew that if she hung around she would start crying again and she didn’t want that to happen, so she moved swiftly on.

When she reached the street, she joined a group of mothers who were discussing how to tell their children that their headmistress would not be returning to the school because something bad had happened to her.

They thought that Annie, being a supply teacher, could offer some advice. She told them it was probably best to be open and honest but not to go into too much detail.

‘The one thing to remember about children is that they move on very quickly,’ she said. ‘Unlike us, most of them won’t have many sleepless nights.’