‘I refused to hear you… I remembered the shawl… I remembered you wearing it and my…’ Her words were lost in sobs.

Vanda pulled her chair closer to Una’s. ‘It’s a pity there wasn’t a spare bullet for him,’ she said, nodding at the priest.

‘The priest will be leaving the village,’ said the mayor.

‘Good,’ said Vanda. ‘Could he move out of my sight? Why doesn’t he wait in the bedroom with my father? Perhaps there are some words he’d like to mumble over him.’

‘Women,’ muttered the priest.

Edith caught his arm. ‘What did you say?’ she said.

‘I said, “Women.”’

‘You owe us women an apology – you owe the whole village an apology for your behaviour. You should stand up in church and say sorry for the pain and misery you and the butcher caused Sorina, caused all of us. You terrified Lena’s mother into keeping her daughter a prisoner. You accused Flora of being a whore. And you tried to force me into marrying an evil man. The list of your sins is endless.’

The priest yanked his arm away. ‘I said I would agree that the butcher’s death was suicide. And I will as long as I’m allowed to leave the village peacefully.’

Misha came quietly into the kitchen and stood behind his mother, putting his hand on her shoulder.

‘Excuse me, Priest,’ said Sorina, ‘if a man commits suicide, he’s more likely to come back as one of the bloodless, isn’t he? And even if you read a service at the side of the butcher’s grave and sprinkle it with holy water, it won’t stop him coming back to find you and take you with him, will it?’

‘But we all know the butcher didn’t take his own life,’ said the priest.

‘But surely he did?’ It was the hard voice of the miller. No one had seen or heard the elder come in.

‘There is no doubt in my mind that it was suicide,’ the mayor said boldly.

‘Of course it was, he used this,’ said the miller, holding up the revolver. ‘It was on the floor by the bed.’

The mayor was speechless, baffled as to why neither the doctor, the priest nor himself had noticed it.

‘Perhaps, Mayor,’ said the miller. ‘You should talk to the villagers.’

‘Yes, yes, I will give an address in the square in half an hour,’ he said, trying to cover his surprise.

‘That’s as it should be,’ said the miller. ‘I’ll let it be known.’ He went outside and could be heard giving instructions to the crowd.

‘Where did the revolver come from?’ said the doctor to the mayor.

‘We missed it, didn’t we, Doctor?’ said the mayor. ‘It must have been among the bedclothes and fallen to the floor.’

‘Yes,’ said the doctor, ‘that must be it.’

‘It was found,’ said Misha, ‘that’s the important thing.’