The sisters each extended a hand and shook Gina’s. ‘Welcome to the Merrylife Hotel, Diana,’ said Mary.

‘You’ll need a few things,’ said Ruth. ‘Mary told me you’d had your bag stolen. Is that right? We can give you a little advance on your wages to get some essentials, if you like. It won’t be much but it would help if you’ve nothing.’

‘That would be lovely, thank you,’ said Gina. ‘I’ve very little money.’

This is the perfect place to lie low for a bit, she mused: a side-street hotel with hardly any visitors, and certainly no one who’s likely to have seen me at the Tom and Tabby in Blackpool. And it’s run by a couple of trusting old biddies who believe everything I say.

When she had finished her morning’s work, Ellen decided that Betty Travers, with her knowledge of old country lore and the more mysterious ways of life, was the person to ask about that strange event of last spring. With luck, Betty would still be at Highview Cottage with her mother.

Betty was just preparing to leave when Ellen arrived home.

‘That time already?’ Betty said when Ellen went in through the back door. ‘Your mum and I have been talking that long, I’ve lost all track.’

‘Hello, Mrs Travers. Hello, Mum. Oh, Mrs Travers, I’m right glad you’re still here. I’ve remembered such a strange thing about Gina and I’m wondering what it means; whether it’s connected in some way with what’s happened. You see, it was just before she got her job at the Hall, and look at the trouble that has brought her to. I’ve never told anyone this and I know it sounds mad, but it was summat Uncle Tom said yesterday that half reminded me.’

‘Tom? Does he know whatever it is?’ asked Dora.

‘No, I’m sure he doesn’t, Mum. He just made me think.’

‘Go on then, love,’ said Dora.

‘Well, it was last year, in the spring. I saw a little bottle, like a medicine bottle, half hidden in one of the stone walls up on the farm, and I was going to pick it out to see, but Gina knocked my hand away and then she started talking nonsense. Said it was a spell and I weren’t to touch it. Then the next time I said owt about it, she said it were nowt and she’d made up the spell story just to frighten me. I don’t know why. I thought it was mean.’

Betty nodded slowly but she didn’t look surprised. ‘What did it look like, love? Can you remember?’

‘Just a little bottle with summat dark in – dried blood, mebbe, or some other liquid – and I think the stopper was tied round with what looked like hair. I’ve never seen owt like it before or since.’