“Different mark, but made the same way. Charcoal, by the look of it.”

“So you want me to take a butcher’s? Fire away.” Madeleine dug out a notebook and pen. “Never know when I’ll get an idea for a sermon,” she explained. “That or remember I’ve run out of Jaffa Cakes.”

Ellie swiped through her phone’s image gallery till she found the mark above Tony’s body. Frowning, Madeleine copied it into her notebook. “Okay, got that,” she said. “What else?”

Ellie scrolled to the pictures from Wakeman Farm. “Looks like the same marking repeated over and over,” she said. “Let me know if anything else jumps out.”

Madeleine sketched the second symbol down, tapping her pen on the page as she scrolled on through the pictures from Wakeman Farm, then those from the Bell. Finally she put the phone down and took a sip of wine. “I don’t recognise the ritual,” she said, “but I recognise the signs.”

“So what are they? Satanist?”

“Phoenician.”

“They’re what?”

“Phoenician. It’s a Semitic language – it’s actually the oldest written alphabet we know. Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic – all their alphabets derived from it.”

“Semitic? So that’s what, Middle Eastern?”

“Originally, yeah. They were a seafaring society – traders, merchants. Don’t think they ever got as far as Derbyshire, though.” Madeleine leant back in her seat. “Lucky for you Matt Williams doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. Comparative religion’s my thing. I like looking at the roots of stuff – where it comes from, what different faiths have in common, how they overlap. I mean, round here that’s rich pickings, cos there’s a lot of pagan survivals and superstitions. But I like looking further afield, too. And if it’s religion you’re after, the Middle East’s the place to go. Sorry.” Madeleine waved her wine glass. “I get a bit carried away.”

“No, it’s fine.” Ellie sipped her Cragganmore and did her best to savour the taste. “So none of this means anything to you?”

“Didn’t say that. Like I said, there’s deffo some kind of ritual going on here, just not one I know.”

“So something brand new?”

“Well, that or dead, dead old,” Madeleine grinned. “So do give us a heads-up if it turns out to be. Make my name with that, wouldn’t I? Anyway, the symbols – I can tell you a bit about them.”

“Okay.”

“Phoenician letters form an alphabet, but each one on its own can also mean something, like a hieroglyph.” Madeline tapped the second symbol, the one Ellie had found at Wakeman Farm and the Bell, “this one’s called gīml. The shape’s supposed to represent a throwing-stick or staff sling.”

“So… a weapon? Someone’s telling us this is a hit?”