“Actually, no,” said Joda. “And I thought there would be a couple of times. We had three or four boys in from the village. Don’t know why they were here – maybe they’re barred as well – but they were mostly playing pool in the back, and Tony just sat there –” Joda nodded at the snug “– drinking in a corner. One of the boys even spilled his drink – accidentally, I mean, they weren’t looking for a fight – and he let it go.”

“How many had he had by then?”

“Six or seven.”

By that stage of things, Tony was usually on the fine border between being everybody’s friend and decking anyone who looked at him the wrong way. “Something bothering him, maybe?”

Joda shrugged. “He didn’t really talk except to ask for another drink, but that’s how he looked.”

“What time did he go?” Joda often stayed open till the early hours of the morning at this time of year, to get the most out of the reduced trade.

“Midnight exactly.” Joda pointed to the pendulum clock. “You know what that thing’s like – strikes the hour like Big bloody Ben. He was sort of slouched over the table and I was wondering what to do about him – I was starting to think he’d fallen asleep.”

“Tony, fall asleep in a pub? That’d be new.” Pity, really. He mightn’t have been barred from as many. “How much had he put away by the time he left?”

“His usual – ten, eleven pints. But he seemed to wake up when he realised the time. Finished his drink, said ‘goodbye’ very politely, and out he went.”

“What about the other drinkers?”

“Hardly noticed he’d gone. They were all here until nearly two o’clock.”

By which time Tony Harper would already have been dead. “Got names for any of them?”

Joda remembered two, which Ellie jotted dutifully down. “Thanks, mate. Give my love to Barbara.”

“Will do. What happened? Is he in trouble?”

She shook her head. “Couple hikers found him out by the hill road this afternoon. Looks like he froze to death.”

“Oh, God. That poor young man.”

“Yeah.”

Joda didn’t bother to spare a thought for his mother, but then, like Ellie, he’d met Liz Harper. If he wondered why Tony had been out by the hill road, he didn’t ask. He had problems of his own.

Outside, Ellie jogged to the Land Rover. The snow was thicker still, and the sky above even darker. She didn’t know if that was because of the approach of night or that of the storm, but either way, time was limited, and as little as she wanted to, she had to get to Barrowman Farm.