Pa took Weasel Face into his study, while PC Stubby stayed with me in the living room and grilled me so hard that by the time he’d finished, I felt as though I’d hidden my brother all by myself and simply decided not to tell anyone. He wanted to know every detail about my relationship with Jimmy, our relationship with Pa, our move to Wormley, Mrs D, my school friends and my village friends, and the exact timings of our movements. He pressed me for what I knew about Pa’s service in the war – which wasn’t much, because he never spoke of it – and his ‘illness’ afterwards, by which I supposed they meant his mental state.

But most of all he homed in on the events of the past twenty-four hours.

‘Would it be your normal practice to leave the house late at night, Miss Goddard?’

‘Erm, no. But Pa was here, and I was only out for a little while.’

‘And we now know that he was in no fit state to take care of a child. Do you mind my asking where you went?’

I faltered then, anxious not to get Kit into more trouble. But this was serious; it was no time to tell untruths.

‘To see Kit Waddington, down at the Hall. He will confirm that, but I’d rather you didn’t tell his parents.’

PC Stubby nodded. ‘Hmm. Yes. Kit Waddington. Someone else mentioned that name.’ He looked up from his notebook with a sly smile. ‘Like that, is it?’

‘Not at all. We had something urgent to discuss.’

He cleared his throat meaningfully, and shook his head. ‘And what exactly is a “little while”?’

‘An hour or so. Perhaps a bit longer.’

He frowned and noted this in his notebook with a stubby pencil. He wrote so slowly and laboriously, his tongue peeking out at the corner of his mouth in concentration, that I felt like screaming.

‘And what time was that?’

I told him.

‘And you got back when?’ I guessed at quarter past eleven. It seemed too careless to tell him that I hadn’t actually looked at the clock.

‘And it was during that time that your brother decided to leave the house?’

‘I can’t be entirely sure when he went out, I’m afraid.’

‘Did you check whether he was here when you arrived home?’

A lump stuck in my throat.

‘I’m sorry, Miss Goddard, but we have to ask these questions.’

I swallowed hard and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. ‘Yes, I know. Sorry. No, I didn’t look in on him when I got back.’

‘What time did you get up this morning?’

‘About eight. We had a very disturbed night because of the storm.’

‘Of course. And did you check on him then?’