‘Sir, I have some important information for you!’ he said, while I was still lifting the receiver to my ear. ‘I have had good news, and I have made some interesting discoveries about these cops from Dearth.’

‘Tell me the good news,’ I said.

‘Well, it is only good for myself, but as you showed some sympathy, which I greatly appreciate, I must tell you. I was in contact with my bank this morning, and the website claims that their cash machines are all operative again. I went straight down to the nearest one, and it was true. My account will be back up and running again tomorrow.’

‘Spoder, I’m genuinely pleased for you. I was worried.’

‘And the savings account, where I have set aside something for Terrik and Noella, that is going to be restored before the end of the week.’ There was a slight pause, then: ‘Is your own bank functioning again, sir?’

‘Not yet, not as far as I know. But I’m OK for now – Jo will be home tomorrow, and she is bringing some money to tide us over. It’s not a problem, or not yet. What is the information you said you had found?’

‘It’s about the Dearth cops. Are you still involved with the mystery?’

‘Of course I am,’ I said. I had resigned myself to following the path to its conclusion. ‘I want to see the thing through. What have you discovered?’

As often before, it turned out that Spoder’s research covered much of the same ground as mine. I listened carefully to him without commenting, noting down a few extra details I had missed or skimmed over. Spoder was a thorough researcher.

He told me about Jeksid’s early marriage and divorce, the loss of his small children in a custody dispute.

‘I have to say I felt some sympathy for him there, sir,’ Spoder said. ‘I can’t imagine anything more hurtful than to lose contact with one’s pre-school children. But it seems to have been an angry divorce, and Jeksid deliberately kept away from his wife and children after they left. He made only two contact visits after the divorce. His wife, Jessa, moved to Salay Hames, the fifth, with the man she had met. As you know, travel between Dearth and Salay involves a substantial journey.’

‘When were these visits, do you know?’

‘The first was a year or two after they split up. The second was some years later, when the boys reached the age of sixteen – it was probably a birthday visit.’

‘This was when he gave the baseball bat to Lew?’

‘I think that’s right. He would almost certainly have given the other boy a present too, but I’ve no idea what it might have been.’

A memory of an inscription in squarish handwriting flashed like a shard of sunlight glimpsed through trees.

‘I think it was a book,’ I said. ‘An instruction manual of magical techniques.’