‘What’s happened to her now?’ Jimmy already knew the answer but he wanted to hear it from Elspeth.

‘They’ve taken her into care. They couldn’t trace her family, you see.’ Elspeth looked up at Perez. ‘If you were Anna’s friend you might know someone who could love her? Who could take her in?’

Jimmy shook his head sadly. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know her that well.’

3

The Neighbour

Outside there was a nip of frost in the air. The school was in the middle of the village just off the main street. Jimmy could hear the children’s voices as soon as he left the hotel, and he saw the children when he crossed the road. They were wrapped in coats and scarves and had made a slide in the ice. Perez thought he could see Sarah’s son playing with the other boys.

An older woman waddled into the yard and rang a hand bell to mark the start of the school day. Perez thought this might be Freda, the woman who’d lost her job to Anna Blackwell and was now back. For a while, at least. He would talk to the head teacher later, when school was over. It would be good to hear what she’d made of Anna.

He walked round the village making a map of the place in his head. He found the doctors’ surgery in a modern building close to the school. Three names were on the door. Thomas King’s was one of them.

The small estate where Anna had lived was right at the edge of the village, not far from Tom and Sarah’s house. Ten semi-detached homes formed a horseshoe round a patch of frosty grass. There were some swings and a slide. Anna had lived in number four. It had a neat garden, but Perez couldn’t see inside because the curtains were closed. He was standing there, wondering if there was a way to get inside, when an elderly man appeared at the front door of the next house.

‘Can I help you?’ He was small and wiry, with teeth that were too big for his mouth.

‘I just came to see where Anna lived,’ Jimmy said.

‘Did you know her?’

‘Not exactly. I’ve been asked to find out why she died.’

‘Are you a cop?’

‘Yes,’ Jimmy said. Because after all, that was the truth.

‘Poor young thing. The women in this village are all bitches. They go to church on a Sunday, but that didn’t stop them making the lass’s life a misery with their gossip and their lies.’

‘You don’t happen to have a key?’ Perez nodded towards the small, tidy house.

‘Aye. I was the one who found her body.’

‘Maybe you could tell me how that happened,’ Perez said.

‘I told the other police.’ For the first time the old man seemed suspicious about Jimmy’s role in the case.

‘I know. I’m just checking that nothing’s been missed.’

They sat in the neighbour’s tiny living room in front of an open fire. The man offered tea but Perez shook his head.