Rushing back to the grave, she took hold of Elspeth’s shirt and hauled her upwards. So much harder with an adult, and Elspeth’s right arm was bent back behind her, so it was difficult to get a good grip.

‘That’s not Angela,’ Fergus said. ‘You told me it would be Angela.’

‘No, I told you we had to check it wasn’t Elspeth. Your mother doesn’t want Elspeth in there with her. Help me get her out.’

‘I’m Harris,’ he said. His speech was slurred, different. He yawned. ‘Not Fergus. I don’t care about Elspeth. She deserved to die.’

Harris Povey was awake.

‘It doesn’t matter who this woman is. If you help me, you’ll have done a good deed, and then you can die in peace. Isn’t that what you want? No more pain, no more heartache. Don’t you long for sleep without nightmares?’

Connie gave one last monumental effort, heaving Elspeth upwards and into the open.

She collapsed onto the floor, Elspeth on top of her. Connie tried to get out from under the dead weight, and saw lights circling before her eyes. Catching her breath was becoming increasingly difficult. Freezing cold, exhausted, shock creeping in, she needed to calm down and maintain control of the situation.

‘What’s wrong with her?’ Harris/Fergus asked.

‘You suffocated her in a coffin. There’s blood around her mouth.’

Connie managed to push Elspeth off, grabbing her wrist as she knelt next to her. No pulse. She dropped her head onto the woman’s chest. No sound of a heartbeat, although the rain was doing a good impression of the pitter-patter Connie longed to hear.

She knew what she had to do, but exhaustion was threatening to overwhelm her. Pulling unconscious bodies from a grave and performing mouth to mouth while a deranged killer tried to hold a conversation with you was … she hadn’t the hyperbole for it.

‘Elspeth,’ Meggy croaked, reaching for the woman. ‘Her lung’s hurt.’

‘Oh, shit,’ Connie muttered.

That explained the blood around the mouth. It also meant that resuscitating her was going to be even harder.

Connie shifted Elspeth so she was flat on her back, moved her arm into the best position she could manage and began chest compressions, thirty rapid pushes down on her central chest, head back, airway open, faster than one per second. Then two breaths. She would have to repeat that until either she collapsed, unable to do any more, or until Elspeth came back to life.

‘Tell me about Harris’ grandma?’ he demanded.

Connie steeled herself. She was freezing cold, and her muscles were starting to seize. She needed to concentrate on compressions, and Meggy was dragging herself slowly across the ground to huddle against her back. Out-thinking Fergus was too complex for that particular moment.