She was standing between the high brick gateposts at the edge of the Parker Farm. She looked like a goalkeeper, all hunched and agitated. Behind her the farmhouse was a sullen, brooding mass. There was only one light on: a solitary red and yellow blur. I knew from my walks how the house looked in daylight. The front door and the windowsills were painted dark green and the driveway was made of large paving slabs with weeds growing between the cracks. Spiky bushes lined the drive as it curved around towards the front door. One part of the house was three storeys high but the shorter part – the foot of the boot – was only two storeys and was topped with a tall chimney, higher than a man. To the rear were outbuildings and the bower where the cattle were milked. On days when the wind blew towards my house there was no amount of burning paper could disguise that scent. Right then I found myself listening to the sounds of the night. The only sound was of the rustling of the leaves all around us.

‘Cordelia?’ she asked, again.

‘You can go if you like,’ I said, and knew as I said it that I would have been devastated if she had taken me up on the offer of a way out. ‘I’m just going to ask some questions. The worst that happens is they tell us to get out and I don’t think I like them anyways.’

She lowered her head but seemed to accept my decision. I slipped my elbow through hers and we walked up the driveway to the front door. I didn’t remark upon the car that was parked a little way off, down towards the barn. My mind was too busy.

‘Shall I?’ she asked, and we climbed the three steps to the door.

In the end, neither of us knocked on the door. As we waited, a light flicked on. A line of yellow light appeared around the edge of the door. A man’s voice, muffled like the words on the recording, told us to hang on. There was the sound of keys in the lock. It struck me as odd. Who locked their doors? In all my time in the area I had never known anybody go to the trouble of locking up and yet it sounded as if deadbolts and at least two locks were being manhandled. Then the door slowly swung open.