Toby edged away. ‘Sorry?’

At that moment Gilly appeared behind the bar, red-faced from the heat of the kitchen and carrying a tray of steaming clean glasses.

‘Gilly!’ Toby said, and was about to follow with an ‘it’s good to see you’, when Dora McCreedy took over.

‘You!’

Gilly managed to turn pale despite the sweat on her brow. She put down the glasses and beat a swift retreat to the kitchen.

‘Stan,’ McCreedy said, incensed, to the landlord. ‘What on earth are you doing, letting her in here?’

‘She’s a casual,’ the barman said. ‘Turned up a few days ago, looking for work. She’s covering for Carrie – the girl needed the time off.’

McCreedy snorted. ‘I caught her trespassing. She’d only set up a whole camp, right there on my land! You need to get rid of her.’

The landlord finished pouring Toby’s pints and put them down in front of him with an uncomfortable frown. ‘She’s been a hard worker so far.’

‘She’s a thief,’ McCreedy said. ‘Get rid of her, Stan. She’ll have her fingers in that till the minute your back is turned.’

‘Why would you think that?’ Toby asked. ‘Trespassing isn’t quite the same as stealing money out of a till, is it?’

McCreedy forced a patient smile. ‘If she can’t afford somewhere proper to live, where’s she going to get money from without stealing?’

Toby felt his eyebrows lift up his forehead. ‘She’s… working. In there. Right now.’

McCreedy snorted.

‘What happened to her camp?’

‘What?’

‘Never mind.’ Toby had nothing more to say. He picked up the drinks and went back to his table. Behind him, he could still hear McCreedy berating Stan.

‘Here’s a question for you, Ron,’ Toby said, putting down his friend’s pint and sliding back into his seat with his own. ‘About Rachel.’

Ron took a long pull on his beer before answering. ‘Oh, aye?’

‘She’s very reserved, isn’t she? It’s hard to get a read on her. And I don’t know if that’s because I’m so out of practice, or because she’s naturally that way.’

The old man looked at him for a moment.

‘I mean,’ Toby went on, ‘she told me she doesn’t date. Which seems… I don’t know. Strange, I suppose. Have you ever known her to have a relationship?’

‘Not as far as I know,’ Ron said. ‘I’ve never seen her with anyone. She keeps herself to herself, that’s all. Doesn’t mix in the village much. Doesn’t leave the village much. But—’ he stopped himself, and sighed.

‘What is it?’

‘I don’t feel comfortable discussing her like this, lad, if I’m honest,’ Ron said. ‘I don’t think she’d like it. I don’t think it’d do you any good if she found out, either.’

‘Sorry,’ Toby said, kicking himself. ‘Of course you’re right. I should never—’

‘It’s all right,’ Ron said, reaching out to tap his arm. ‘I know a good ’un when I see one. Rachel… I’ll just say this – I think she’s had a tough time of it in the past. Nothing she’s told me, it’s only a feeling I’ve got from some of the things she’s said, or maybe not said. She was a bit of a mystery to all of us when she arrived, but we wouldn’t be without her now, and I’d not upset her for the world.’