He said, ‘All sorts of odds and sods. He did a bit of groundwork on building sites, the odd bit of gardening. He took on anything as long as it was outside. You couldn’t fault the lad for trying. He’s had a go at most things since he was first laid off by Western.’

There was only one ‘Western’ everybody had heard of in these parts. ‘Western. Western Archaeology.’

He nodded. ‘That’s right. He was doing OK for himself until a couple of years back. Then when the building industry ground to a halt, the digging did too. Jack and a whole bunch of his mates were laid off at the same time. Poor bastards. I ask you, what use is an out-of-work archaeologist to the world?’

She had some sympathy with Damian Kelly’s view, though she doubted David would have agreed. And if the Hart Unit was in as perilous a state as David had suggested, she hoped to God she wasn’t going to have to find out any time soon.

‘So since then he’d been working cash-in-hand. Just picking up the odd labouring job.’

He said, ‘That’s right. Though he had a stroke of luck four or five months ago. Bumped into some bloke he was at university with who put him onto a bit of digging work up Stroud way.’

Sally said, ‘A building job.’

Kelly shook his head. ‘Nah. On a dig up there somewhere. He was made up about it.’

‘So, what happened?’

He shook his head again. ‘I don’t rightly know. Though if I had to take a guess I’d say it was probably the drink. Jack knew how to put it away when he had the chance, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been let go for turning up to work the worse for wear after he’d tied one on the night before. All I know for sure is he got fired. Like I said, we just knocked around a bit. But what I do know is that night in the pub he’d had a skinful. And by the end of the night he was telling everyone who’d listen what a cow the woman in charge was.’

Sally couldn’t believe it. This was starting to have a horribly familiar ring to it. How many women were there running digs in the Cotswolds?

‘Did he happen to mention her name?’

‘No, but everyone knew who he meant.’

Sally almost didn’t want to ask. ‘Oh? Why was that?’

‘It was that mad bitch who hung herself. Some of the lads were talking about it just after it happened – when it was all over the news. And Jack was in here shouting his mouth off, saying he reckoned she’d got what she deserved.’