‘Not me,’ Susan said. ‘Grace.’ A sad smile touched her lips. ‘I used to think my operations caused it. The drugs, the medical treatment. By the time they found out I was pregnant, I’d had so much. They said it’s nobody’s fault, that there’s no proven connection. But nobody can say for sure.’ Her eyes were shining now, moist with unshed tears. They danced with the flicker of the fire as she continued with her story. ‘Anyway,’ she sniffed, when she’d said all there was to say. ‘I’ll get Grace. We don’t get many visitors. I’m sure she’s dying to meet you.’

‘I’d like that,’ Lloyd said, feeling brighter at the thought of meeting his moonlight girl. No wonder she’d been so happy in the darkness, so enamoured by her surroundings. He watched as Susan checked the curtains and the blankets blocking each chink of light. She tugged the heavy material.

‘On a day like this, it still manages to creep in.’ She turned to face him. ‘Grace is allergic to sunlight . . . among other things.’ She walked towards the door. ‘Even the smallest chink can feel like a knife peeling off her skin.’

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. He had heard of such conditions, although he gathered they were rare. Susan’s wedding ring glinted on the finger of her left hand, but there was no sign of Martin in the house.

‘Sounds tough,’ he said. So, Grace was the reason Susan had cut herself off from the community.

‘It is,’ Susan said, sadly. ‘She’s pretty much allergic to life. But sunlight affects her the most – which is why she can’t leave the house during the day. I’ve promised her a dog. It’s a small blessing that she’s not allergic to fur.’

‘Small mercies indeed,’ Lloyd murmured.

‘Martin works away, so it’s just me and Grace most of the time.’ She wrapped her hand around the door handle. ‘I don’t like to leave her alone too long.’

‘That’s OK, you go and get her.’

Although in uniform, Lloyd wasn’t officially on duty yet. He liked to make his visits unhurried, without his police airwaves radio interrupting him. It was hooked to his belt should he need assistance, but he wasn’t going to need it here. He inhaled a deep breath, growing accustomed to the smell of bleach. It intermingled with the smoke driven down the chimney from the wind outside.