‘I were hiding in the churchyard. Playing, I suppose. And Pike went in and he had a bag with him and he opened the door with a key. He was in a minute then came out again. I don’t know if it was a mistake or if he heard something but he legged it out of there sharpish and didn’t lock it properly. I’d never been inside and I couldn’t help it. I had a little nosey. Have you been in, Mam? It’s spooky and cold and your breath doesn’t go anywhere when you breathe out – it just hangs in front of your face. I could see Pike’s boot prints on the floor. There were prayer books and cushions and pews all scattered and turned over. I don’t know what I was looking for, I just wanted to see. And I looked in the collection box by the door. I could tell there was something inside. I opened it with my penknife. There were some old coins and this tooth. I took it.’

There was colour in his cheeks, as if he’d been running, and I didn’t like how shiny his eyes were becoming as he spoke about it.

‘Brian, that must have been a donation. Or something for Fairfax. It wasn’t for you to take …’

‘No, Mam, there’s no services. And the letter would have said, wouldn’t it?’

‘Letter?’

He shook his head like he was telling himself off. He looked cross and started rubbing at his arms.

‘Just a note,’ he said, all sullen, like. ‘A bit of paper, folded over. Nice handwriting. And a reel.’

‘A fishing reel?’ I was getting agitated at how many answers I needed him to share. I wanted to shake him suddenly.

‘No, a tape reel – like a recording machine. Just one of them. It looks like what you get ribbons wrapped around at the market.’

‘Did you take that too?’

He didn’t look sheepish now. He was starting to smirk again.

‘I thought I’d better take it all, just to be safe,’ he said, getting cockier with each word. ‘Like I said, Mam, it weren’t there for anybody specific. It didn’t make any sense.’

‘The reel,’ I said, interrupting. ‘Where is that?’

He rolled his eyes at me and rubbed his hand across his mouth like he was a man checking if he needed a shave. ‘Reckon Pike had it, don’t I?’

‘How do you think that?’

‘I’ve got a place for stuff like that. Somewhere nobody looks. I put the tape in there and the note and the coins. I kept the tooth on me ’cause I liked it.’

‘And Pike took the reel?’

‘Must have. Went back to the tree and it weren’t there.’

‘Which tree?’