Neil Savage didn’t cry for very long. He pulled himself together as soon as James told him he was going to be taken to Kendal to be formally questioned in connection with the killings at Oaktree Farm.

It made James wonder if his reaction to what he’d been told had been an act. Or perhaps it had been fuelled by the drugs in his system.

His rucksack and clothes contained nothing that linked him to the killings and a quick check of the shoes he was wearing showed that the soles were entirely different to the bloody shoeprints found at the crime scene, though they were a size ten.

He kept insisting that he hadn’t known that Charlotte and her parents were dead. But James said nothing further, waiting until they were back at the station to grill him properly. There was too much commotion going on around them and it was a huge distraction.

Savage’s pals were all making a noise and protesting about having their sleep disturbed. It didn’t seem to bother them that they were facing charges for possessing drugs. A quick search of the barn revealed a variety of substances and pills including weed, ketamine, cocaine and ecstasy.

James arranged for Savage to be transported back to Kendal in a patrol car and got DS Stevens to go with him. Once there he’d be checked over by a doctor and his prints would be taken along with a DNA swab.

He and DC Abbott then set about talking to each of the others before decisions were taken on what to do with them.

They all claimed that they were above the age of consent and had come to Bash Barn simply to have a blowout Christmas party. And it wasn’t the first time for any of them.

They all reiterated what Savage had said about not watching the television or being able to use their phones. They insisted they hadn’t heard about the farm killings or about anything else that had gone on in the world since Christmas Day.

One of the girls was Kerry Duncan, a petite nineteen-year-old blonde, and she echoed what the others said about Savage.

‘We didn’t expect him to come along because we’d been told that he was spending Christmas with Charlotte’s parents,’ she said. ‘But he’d had a row with her and they’d split up. That was all the excuse he needed to come and have a blast with us.’

‘And did he seem upset about the break up?’ James asked her.

‘Not at all. He was really up for enjoying himself. That’s what coming here is all about. Letting our hair down and getting wasted. Life is shit for most of us so why shouldn’t we?’