Lowering her head to avoid the possibility of having to meet the stranger’s eyes, Clare muttered, ‘Give me strength!’ and trotted uphill to join David. She caught up with him just as he reached the stranger.

David said, ‘Afternoon.’

The man looked the pair of them up and down. Then in a deep baritone said, ‘Blessed be!’

For once David seemed lost for words. Clare smiled, stepped forward and offered her hand. ‘Hello.’

The stranger, whose hands were fully laden with the bullroarer, lifted it towards her in an apologetic gesture and, inclining his head to one side, gave a slight bow. ‘Greetings, my lady.’

David stood beside her, immobile. His broad, fixed smile was quite evidently, to Clare at least, a mask adopted to stop him from laughing. She shot him a warning glance, willing him to succeed.

For some inexplicable reason she found herself offering a small bow in return. ‘I’m Clare.’

She dug David in the ribs with her elbow.

‘Dr David Barbrook.’ She glared at him. ‘David.’

The stranger, whom Clare now noticed was sporting black leather biker’s trousers beneath his knee-length white tunic, smiled. ‘Wayne Crabbs. But most folks call me Crabby.’ He nodded in the direction of the open Portakabin door. ‘Surprised they’ve still got you lot raking over Beth’s ashes. From what I heard I thought the coppers had long since made their minds up about what happened.’

David hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. ‘No, I’m not that sort of doctor. We’re archaeologists. We’re here to take over the excavation.’

Crabby narrowed his eyes. ‘You’re going to be carrying on with the dig?’

David was unable to suppress the note of suspicion in his voice. ‘That’s right.’

‘You wanna go careful, then.’

Clare glanced nervously at David.

Crabby nodded in the direction of the copse at the top of the hill. ‘It’s none too healthy round ’ere for the likes of you.’

Recognising the familiar signs of rising tension in David, Clare decided to step in before he said something he, or at least she, might regret. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘You’ll find out soon enough if you hang around.’

David took a step towards Crabby. ‘Is that meant to be some sort of a threat?’

The older man swung the bullroarer in an arc and for a moment Clare thought that he was going to take a swipe at David with it. But instead he deposited it with pinpoint accuracy in a heap a few feet from where they stood. He stepped towards David, placed his hands on David’s upper arms and smiled. ‘Friend, it’s half a lifetime since I threatened a man.’ He looked sideways and winked at Clare. ‘And I’m not sure I was too convincing even back then.’

David stiffened, and Crabby removed his hands and took a step back.

For a moment the two men just looked.