During the day, Will’s kitchen had become a meeting point for the search parties that were scouring the marshes, but as night descended, they were called in for fear they might become lost themselves. There was no more to be done until first light.

Sam Page had sat with Kate, while Will, Matt and Liz had brewed teas and coffees for those who had been out searching. Two constables, Jack Fleet and Debbie Hume, were to stay the night at Holland House, just in case the child did turn up. The owners of the Tanners Fen village fish and chip shop had kindly delivered hot food for them all. Will, believing that he wouldn’t be able to eat a thing, found he was ravenous.

Kate drifted, half awake, refusing food. She kept wringing her hands together like some Lady Macbeth.

Now, at nine o’clock, Will, Sam, Matt and Liz sat with her in the bedroom. An awkward silence settled on the room. Catching Sam’s meaningful looks, Will realised that he could no longer delay the confrontation with Kate.

With a sigh, he moved from the window seat to the bed, and taking her hand in his, sat beside his wife. Looking into those large sad eyes, all his well-rehearsed lines melted away. Squeezing her hand, he told her that he loved her and asked her to forgive him for what he was about to say.

Kate listened without interruption. Will waited for her response.

The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock.

After what seemed like an hour, Kate raised her eyes and fixed them on Sam Page. ‘Did you put him up to this?’

With a gentle smile, he said, ‘Yes, my dear, I did. You need help. And you are breaking your husband’s heart.’

Will was certain she would turn on him, spitting venom and hurling abuse, but she simply said, ‘Thank you for your honesty.’ There was another pause, then she said patiently, as if to a child, ‘But you are, of course, wrong. I don’t need help, especially from the kind of doctor that you are suggesting. I am really quite surprised that you can’t see what is going on here.’

‘And what is that?’ Sam asked.

She lifted an eyebrow. ‘Three dead Holland children, Professor Page?’

She turned to Will and said, ‘And, yes, I know about Elizabeth being taken from her playpen. I knew about it long before you tried to hide the website from me.’

Will’s mouth fell open, but Kate was continuing, talking with more animation than he had heard from her in months. ‘Actually, there are more disappearances, but the history is a little sketchy and the Hollands feared a witch-hunt.’

‘And you believe that the house is responsible for all this, and indeed is still claiming young lives?’ Sam’s tone was even and reasonable.