‘Can you please confirm, Detective Chief Inspector, that you’re investigating possible links between these killings and those of the previous owners of the farm who were found dead there twenty-four years ago?’ he said.

Tanner nodded. ‘Of course, it’s something we’re looking at because, as you know, there are some striking similarities. But it does seem highly unlikely that there’s a connection.’

But that was never going to be enough to deter the media from making the most of the fact that a total of at least five people had now died in violent and mysterious circumstances at the farm. It was an angle that was guaranteed to draw in more readers, viewers and listeners.

As the questions continued, James realised that there was still a lot that he himself didn’t know about those first killings. He hadn’t yet had time to go and see Giles Keegan who knew more about them than anyone else. So he decided to go online and print off some material while the press conference rumbled on.

A few taps on the keyboard took him to a plethora of newspaper stories and photographs. There was even one picture of a young Keegan speaking to reporters in a field with Oaktree Farm in the background.

As he continued to trawl through the reports that had been archived by various news outlets, he stumbled on a photo that came as quite a shock.

It showed a large group of people standing outside St John’s Church in Kirkby Abbey at a memorial to mark the first anniversary of the deaths of Simon and Amanda Roth. He remembered Annie telling him that she’d attended that memorial service and he stared at the picture for perhaps a full minute before he realised that he could see her standing there between her mum and dad.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO

It’s a crisp autumn day in Kirkby Abbey, just like it was a year ago when they came here for the funerals.

Now they’re here again to mark the first anniversary of the deaths of Simon and Amanda Roth.

The memorial service has just finished inside the church and the forty or so villagers who attended are gathered around the headstone above the graves.

Father Silver, the priest of St John’s, is saying a final prayer for the couple, and for their daughter, Megan, who is still missing and presumed by many to be dead.

Robert and Mary Bateman are among those with their heads bowed as they listen to the priest’s words. Charlotte is between them in her pushchair, totally oblivious to what is going on.

It’s proving a tough day for everyone as the memories of what happened at Oaktree Farm come flooding back. But Robert and Mary feel it more keenly than the others because they now live there and it’s never been far from their minds.