A shadow fell over him. He turned to see Albert Fears standing behind him.

‘He came straight at me,’ Fears said, almost proudly.

‘He did, I saw it,’ Jason responded, numbly, as if he was dreaming this.

Very faintly, in the distance, was the wail of a siren. It was growing closer by the second.

‘Straight at me,’ Fears said.

He did not appear to have noticed the body of Claudette Penze-Weedell.

‘I couldn’t do nothing,’ Fears continued. ‘Stupid bastard. You saw it? You know then, right?’

‘Right,’ Jason said, reluctant to concede anything to the man. And suddenly, unable to help himself, he turned away and vomited.

The siren was growing closer still, approaching fast. It was followed by another, more distant. Then another.

‘Got a weak stomach have you, young man?’ Fears said, snidely.

Jason had to restrain himself from standing up and punching the farmer’s smug face.

Over the next hour, Lakeview Drive, cordoned off with blue and white tape, became totally clogged with emergency service vehicles. Three police cars, a Collision Investigation Unit van, two ambulances, a fire engine, as well as police officers and support staff, several in white protective clothing.

Jason was led away to his house by a female police officer. She asked him to give a witness statement, which she typed into a tablet. When he had finished, he asked the officer if she had attended after the death of the construction site worker the previous week. The officer told him she hadn’t and wasn’t aware of it. ‘Three deaths in a week?’ she queried. ‘A very unfortunate coincidence.’

‘Indeed.’

‘I find that things happen in clusters,’ she said. ‘People often say things happen in threes, don’t they?’

‘They do,’ he agreed bleakly.

‘Well, however sad and tragic it has been, let’s hope that’s it, sir, and you and your wife can enjoy your new home now.’

‘Thank you,’ he replied bleakly.

The officer blushed slightly. ‘I’d just like to say that I’m a very big fan of your work.’

‘You are? Thank you!’

‘My husband and I have a King Charles spaniel. I didn’t realize who you were until just now, so I do apologize.’

‘No need, at all.’

‘I’d actually been thinking about – if I could afford it – commissioning you to do a portrait of our Sally, as a birthday present to my husband.’

‘Well, I’d be delighted to do it, and I’m sure I could give a discount to a police officer!’

‘I couldn’t accept that, sir. But that is immensely kind of you.’

Through the window he saw two people wheeling a trolley with a black bag lying on it. The shape inside the bag was human.

His stomach churned, like a cement mixer. Cold water coursed through his veins. His mind went back to just a short while ago. The Penze-Weedells, happily unloading their Christmas sale bargains.

Minutes later both dead.

Was it just a freaky cluster, as the officer had said?

Or something much darker. Had he and Emily moved into some kind of a portal to Hell?