The Druid looked at Clare and asked quietly, ‘Can I see them?’

Clare said, ‘Sure,’ with a greater confidence than she felt.

The three of them made their way over to the pit with the latest find, and, perhaps sensing his earlier error, Malcolm stepped respectfully out of the way. There was no doubting what lay in front of them. It was a second child burial, maybe a little older than the first. And this time there was something distinctly disquieting about the way it was positioned. It was ringed around by large lumps of honey-coloured limestone. The back of its skull had clearly been crushed by something very heavy and it was lying face down. In an instinctive gesture, Jo crossed herself, and then seeming to realise what she’d done quickly clamped her hands firmly down by her side.

Crabby meantime appeared to be in a world of his own. He crouched down, gazing reverently at the fragile heap of tiny bones that had once been a living, breathing child. Bowing his head, he mumbled something that they couldn’t quite hear.

Then, standing up, he turned to face them. ‘Beth was right. This place truly is hallowed ground.’

It was days like today that made Jo remember why she’d made the decision to move to this side of the pond. Sitting in the late evening sun in the beer garden of the King’s Arms, sipping gin and tonic after a hard day’s digging and a good pub meal – what could possibly be more perfect?

She raised her glass. ‘Happy Solstice Eve!’

Clare reciprocated the gesture. ‘Do you know, the last few weeks have been such a whirl I hadn’t even noticed the date.’

‘Don’t worry, I’d say Crabby’s got it covered for all of us.’

‘Oh, don’t, Jo. Why did Malc have to open his big mouth when Crabby was on-site?’

Jo took a long, appreciative sip of her gin before replying. ‘Seems to me it wouldn’t have made much difference. Crabby was gonna find out sooner or later. And he seemed pretty chilled about it.’

‘I suppose so. What did you make of that second burial? It was a bit bizarre.’

‘For today, maybe, but not if it’s Iron Age. When you look at places like Danebury there was some weird stuff going on back then.’

‘I seem to remember they found a shrine there, didn’t they?’

Jo nodded. ‘Sure did. And a whole bunch of pit burials. Old grain pits, mostly. They’d reused them to make offerings in the bottom, including some folks who looked like they’d been deliberately sacrificed.’

Clare said, ‘Sort of makes a shiver run down your spine, doesn’t it? Thinking about what must have happened to those babies.’ She paused. ‘I didn’t know you had religious leanings, Jo.’