‘More than likely,’ he said. ‘And what did you do, Mr Jarvis?’

‘I went out to have a look, of course.’

‘What time was this?’

‘It must have been about midnight, and it were siling down.’

‘Not a good time for someone to be taking a midnight stroll, then.’

Jarvis gave him a sour look, but didn’t bother to reply.

‘When you went outside, did you see anybody?’ asked Cooper.

‘No. There was just a bag on the ground near the porch. A game bag – like shooters and poachers use sometimes, you know what I mean? So I picked it up. I thought maybe somebody had left me a bit of a present.’

‘Has that happened before?’

‘I know a few lads who go shooting,’ said Jarvis evasively.

‘OK. So what was in the bag?’

‘Cack. It were full of cack.’

For a moment, Cooper didn’t understand. ‘You mean dung? It was full of animal excreta?’

Jarvis shook his head and screwed up his face, as if remembering all too clearly the distinctive smell as he opened the bag.

‘Human,’ he said.

‘Are you sure?’

Jarvis gave him a derisive look, but didn’t answer. Some questions were too stupid to waste breath on.

‘Do you have any idea who might have a reason to do that?’

‘Somebody I’ve pissed off, I suppose. That doesn’t take much working out.’

‘And have you pissed off many people? Have you had a dispute with someone recently?’

‘Ramblers, now and then. They’re a bloody nuisance, some of them.’

‘Have you still got the bag?’

‘I burned it.’

Cooper sighed. ‘I don’t suppose Mrs Jarvis saw anything?’

‘She was fast asleep. She sleeps through anything.’

The three dogs sprawled on the porch steps now, their huge heads hanging over the edge as they watched the men walk towards the gate. Cooper recalled the motorbike he’d seen outside the house the first time he’d visited. It wasn’t here now, and he wondered who rode it. Probably one of Mr Jarvis’s sons. Or maybe even the mysterious Mrs Jarvis herself. Perhaps he should have taken more notice of the bike at the time, but he’d been too intrigued by the abandoned hulks in the paddock, and too keen to get out of the rain.

‘Oh, the bag of cack,’ said Jarvis.

‘Yes.’

‘She doesn’t know anything about it. The wife, I mean.’

‘I see.’

‘She gets upset about stuff. No point in telling her.’

‘I don’t think that’ll be a problem, sir.’