“More intriguingly, there are hints from certain old tales (I must gain my parishioners’ confidence to a higher degree, in order to glean more information!) that Blackfield Meadow may once have been the site of a long barrow. Old Fred Annable showed me a flint arrowhead he’d found in the meadow as a boy. These ancient burial-chambers were sometimes holy sites in themselves, so the location may have been a place of worship from the earliest days of this region’s habitation, even before the days of the Druids and their ilk. There may even be a second barrow in the vicinity of Slapelow Hill; indeed, there’s a coppice in nearby Thursdale called Barrow Woods! But Martha Woodthorpe of Barrowman Farm (note also the name of the farmstead!) is a most unsocial and cantankerous sort, unwelcoming even to men of God…”

Blackfield Meadow, Blackfield Park. Which had been teeming with the creatures the night before. And Thursdale, and Barrowman Farm. Not the Harpers – but then, Harper hadn’t been Liz’s maiden name, had it? From what Ellie had heard, it’d always been the women who ruled the roost at Barrowman Farm. So surnames could change easily from one generation to the next, while the family stayed the same…

“I must gain access to Barrow Woods”, read what was near enough the final entry in Bayliss’ journal, “be it by hook or by crook. I’ve no doubt there are discoveries of importance to be made”.

According to a note Madeleine had appended, the Reverend Dr Bayliss had drowned in a nearby river not long after, or so it had been assumed from belongings found lying on the bank: his body was never recovered.

“Great,” muttered Ellie. “Fucking Harpers.” She’d hoped, at least, to put off any further dealings with them till later (for she’d no doubt they were all still very much alive). But another visit to Barrowman Farm seemed increasingly in order, assuming she could gather enough local support for the attempt.

Ernie might be up for it, she supposed, and Laura Caddick, hopefully Noel as well. Bert Annable would have come too, if he was still alive – but Bert was gone. She could have saved him, but she’d run away.

You’d no choice. You’d never have made it. You had to get back and warn the others. What would have happened if you hadn’t been there?

They might have figured it out for themselves; none of them were stupid. If she hadn’t come back to the village, Ernie Stasiolek might have been with his family when the lights went out.

And what good would that have done? He’d just have died with Marzena and the kids.

Or found a way to keep them alive –