‘At least Pa recovered. Some don’t, you know?’ Although he’d never been strong enough to take on another parish, the church was always kind; after Christmas they’d found him a curacy back at St Martin’s, where he could be supported by a big team. They were given a new flat and Molly went back to her old school, which made everything feel a little more normal, although, of course, it was like her old life but without Jimmy or Mum.

‘Whatever happened about that missing money from the church funds?’

Molly smiles. ‘That was the one bit of good that came out of our time at Wormley. Blackman got his just deserts.’

‘How? Oh, do tell.’ Bella sits forward.

It was some months later, when they were already back in London, that Miss Calver’s letter arrived, having been forwarded by Aunt Mary from Buckinghamshire. It was long, two full pages of close typescript, and it enclosed a newspaper cutting:

VICAR AND CHURCH TREASURER CHARGED

The Reverend Michael Morton, former vicar of Wormley near Colchester, and church treasurer Henry Blackman have been jointly charged with the theft of nearly £5,000 from church funds.

Both deny the charges, and the case will be heard at Chelmsford Crown Court in June. A church spokesman said: ‘This is a significant amount of money and we have been aware of its loss for some time, so we are pleased that at last it is being properly investigated.’

If found guilty, the men could face prison sentences.

Miss Calver wrote:

You may be interested to hear what’s been happening here in Wormley since you left. It’s been quite the scandal. It turns out that before he killed himself, Eli Chadwick sent a letter to the newspaper with all kinds of accusations against Mr Blackman. The paper passed it to the police. Of course, none of us knew about this, and it took the police a long time to get round to dealing with it, but it transpires that Eli had evidence that Blackman had already been blackmailing Morton, the former incumbent, threatening to expose the fact that he’d been siphoning off church funds to cover his gambling debts, and trying to get his hands on that piece of woodland. Yes, even back then.

The police forced the bank to give them access to their records. Guess what? It turns out that not only was the vicar siphoning off funds, but some of them were also being diverted to Blackman’s account. No wonder Blackman was trying to blame your poor father. Both he and Morton have been charged with theft, and neither Blackman nor the sainted Melissa have been seen since. Too ashamed, I suppose. I hope they stay away forever. The village already feels like a happier place. The trial is in a few months’ time. I’ll keep you posted.

‘So Mr Evil got his come-uppance. Did he go to gaol in the end?’ Bella asks now.