Betty nodded again and looked thoughtful. ‘Was that all, Nell?’

Ellen thought hard. ‘I think so. Sometimes I thought Gina was up to no good when we shared a room, and she could be secretive, but I never saw owt else like that. ’Course, soon after that, she went to live at the Hall.’

‘And about the time you found the bottle, did owt unusual happen?’

‘Like what?’

‘Oh, to you or anyone who was on the farm, mebbe.’

‘Not anyone, but I do remember a few of the sheep died and Dad got all worked up about it and was in a mood for days.’

‘I remember that,’ said Dora.

‘And did he know why they’d died?’

‘No, it was all a mystery, but he reckoned the sheep were always thinking of new ways to die. That’s what he used to say, wasn’t it, Mum? Honestly, Mrs Travers, I can’t think why he worked with sheep. They seemed to fuel his misery and make him all the worse.’

‘So it could have been anything?’

‘I reckon so.’

‘So why are you worried about this now, love? Do you think it has owt to do with Gina’s disappearance and this business with the burgled things?’

‘I don’t know. I can’t quite get my head straight about it.’

‘I don’t understand,’ said Dora. ‘Why would Gina talk about casting a spell? She has no special powers.’

Betty was thoughtful as well, as if she, too, was trying to remember something.

‘It was all very odd,’ said Ellen. ‘Gina can be envious and bitter if she thinks other folk have what she wants, though she isn’t such a hard worker that she is prepared to take the long road to get on in life. If she tried a spell, like whatever it was I found, and it seemed to work because she saw what she thought was some kind of result, might she start to believe she has special powers? Might she be … deluded – is that the right word? – even though it wasn’t real?’

Betty’s face was grim. ‘I feared summat like this.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Dora, looking worried.

‘It was at the village fête last summer. You remember, I did a bit of fortune-telling, and who should come in but your Gina. Well, I foresaw straight away that she was going to be leaving Little Grindle and there’d be money involved, though not how it came about. But then I saw – clear as day, it was – summat I’ve never seen before. I saw she’d been messing about with magic spells. ’Course, I warned her off. I were that angry with her for dabbling in summat she knows nowt about. She scarpered pretty quick, so I thought she’d heeded my advice. I didn’t say owt to you then because, well, the fortune-telling is private to each client.’