Clare shook her head. ‘On-site, but according to Neil it was Crabby who actually found her.’

Jo looked at her quizzically. ‘Crabby?’

‘The local Druid. It was May Day; he’d gone up to the copse with a group of pagans to perform some sort of Beltane ceremony. But Neil said that he was the one who’d called the ambulance – Crabby was in too much shock.’

Jo made her way to the window and, prising open the Venetian blinds with her thumb and forefinger, peered out at the rain lashing the hillside. ‘I guess it must have been pretty grim.’

‘I wouldn’t have thought that sort of thing would have bothered you.’

‘Well, that’s where you’d be wrong. I’m strictly a long-dead kind of gal. I only like them when they’re bones, desiccated, mummified or frozen.’ Jo leant forward across the desk towards Clare. ‘In fact, so long as you swear not to tell David, I’ll tell you something.’

Clare laughed. ‘Deal.’

‘I pass out if I see real, fresh blood.’

‘You’re joking.’

‘Nope.’

‘But how have you managed all these years?’

‘For one thing, unlike some folks, I avoid chasing around after headcases with guns.’

Clare’s recollection of her encounter with the wrong end of a loaded shotgun was only too fresh in her memory. Her work with the Hart Unit had been a godsend since her husband Stephen’s death in a car crash, but it had certainly had its hairier moments. It had taken several months after the incident at Hungerbourne before she’d been able to sleep through the night without being woken by the image of David’s apparently lifeless body being dumped inside the tea hut.

Jo swung round. ‘Are you OK?’ She knelt down in front of Clare. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think.’

Clare waved away her concern. ‘Ignore me. I’m just being a wuss.’

‘Are you still getting flashbacks?’

‘No, not really. Not any more. It’s just that I can’t seem to shake the idea that this is Beth’s office.’

‘Jeez, next you’re gonna be telling me you think this place is haunted.’

Clare remained silent.

But Jo couldn’t suppress a snort of laughter. ‘No. Really? You think this Portakabin has Beth’s restless spirit roaming around it? And I always had you down as a cool-headed, rational kind of gal.’

‘For your information, I don’t actually believe in ghosts, but I still don’t feel comfortable working a stone’s throw from where Beth’s body was found.’