‘I’ve been thinking,’ said John, and ticked his thumbs into his braces as he spoke. Cordelia and I shared a little smile and it was a nice, sisterly moment. I instantly felt bad for what I’d thought about her. Of course she knew what men wanted. Of course it showed in the way she was. Poor girl had been through more than I could tell you.

‘Thinking, John?’ she asked him, a bit flirty. ‘No need for that.’

‘Yer a cheeky one,’ said John, wagging his finger. He seemed in a better mood for his chat with Heron. Or perhaps it was the way I walked down the hall that set him right – I wasn’t too badly hurt from my brush with the lorry. He could stop worrying.

‘Go on then, we’re all ears,’ I said.

‘Ye’re both convinced of what ye saw,’ he said. ‘And don’t tell me ye’ve been in ’ere talking about knitting patterns because I won’t believe you. So, tell me honest – were there a body on that grass after the tree came down?’

He said it so simply, so flatly, that I had no time to prepare an answer. I simply spoke honestly. Yes. Yes, there was.

‘Hmm,’ he mused. ‘And you, Mrs Hemlock, you came here to get out the rain and told poor Fairfax what you’d seen, yes?’

‘Aye, that’s right,’ I answered for her.

‘Then he gets his car and sets off for goodness knows where and he crashes and dies, God rest him, and the body in the churchyard has gone when you go back to check, yes?’

We both nodded. I didn’t want to speak in case I spoiled it.

John kept sucking on his thoughts like they were boiled sweets.

‘Fairfax has spent years asking people for their memories and their stories and writing down people’s secrets, yes?’

‘Yes,’ said I, wishing he’d get on with his point.

‘So …’ he said, musically.

Cordelia and I were both looking at him but there was a smugness I didn’t particularly like so I shook my head and gave my attention to her instead. She was looking at me earnestly, as if waiting for permission to say what was on her mind. Then I realized that was exactly what she wanted. She wanted to say something unkind about Fairfax and she didn’t want to upset me. I gave the tiniest nod.

‘You know what I’m driving at,’ said John.

‘Aye,’ said Cordelia, and it sounded odd in her accent.

‘Go on,’ I said, sighing.

‘Fairfax moved the body,’ said Cordelia, and for a moment she stared at the bare wall and it was like she were watching it all play out on a cinema screen. She had a mind like a rocket.

‘It’s the only explanation,’ said John.