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across the bridge from Town Gate.’
    ‘Not far from me, then.’
    ‘Aye.’ Gamble peered at Cooper more closely, suddenly resembling a startled sheep. ‘I think I might have known …’
    ‘My father, I expect. Yes.’
    ‘That’s it. Well … like I was saying, that was a proper village, the sort of place where you know everyone, because folk join in. You know them because your parents knew their parents, and so on.’
    ‘I understand.’
    ‘Here, it’s not like that. You can see it just by looking at the place. These newcomers, they know how to keep their privacy all right. So you get the walls, the cameras, the long drives, the locked gates. All of that stuff.’ Gamble smirked again. ‘And when you look at those things, you’ve got to wonder, haven’t you?’
    ‘Wonder what?’
    ‘Well … you wonder what it is they’ve got to be so private about.’
    ‘I see.’
    Cooper thought for a moment that Gamble was going to wink at him. Instead he leaned closer, with a sly grin and a lift of one bushy eyebrow. Then he nodded in the general direction of Valley View and Moorside House.
    ‘What secrets have these people got? What is it they’re trying so hard to hide?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Cooper. ‘I have no idea. But perhaps you do?’
    ‘Ah,’ said Gamble, delightedly. ‘Now we’re really on the same wavelength. You know what the Bible says. There is a God in Heaven that revealeth all secrets .’
    ‘Are you a churchgoer?’
    ‘Yes, I am. But none of them ever go to chapel. That would be the day.’
    ‘You’re a Methodist, then?’
    ‘Certainly. Someone has to be. There aren’t many of us left.’
    ‘Mr Gamble,’ said Cooper. Then, seeing that he wasn’t getting the man’s attention because of some sound outside the house, he repeated it more loudly. ‘Mr Gamble!’
    Gamble jumped. ‘Yes? What? Have I told you enough? Have you got the information you need?’
    ‘Not at all.’
    Cooper glanced at the man’s wife, who seemed to shrug helplessly, using only her eyes. He wondered if it would be possible to get the chance to speak to her on her own. And, if he did, whether she would cling to his leg, whimpering pitifully.
    ‘Tell me again what you saw last night.’
    ‘I did all that.’
    ‘A preliminary statement. We’ll need more, I’m afraid.’
    ‘I didn’t see much, not really. Not until I looked through the window.’
    ‘You’d heard a noise, is that right?’
    ‘Yes, a thump or a crash. Perhaps both, I’m not sure now.’
    Cooper stifled a sigh. Somebody who already couldn’t be sure the day after an incident probably wasn’t going to make a great witness in court.
    ‘Tell me exactly where you were when you heard the noise.’
    ‘It was dark,’ said Gamble.
    ‘So?’
    ‘I was in the lane.’
    His answers had become suddenly terse. Cooper wished he had someone else with him for this interview. Becky Hurst, preferably. Someone to watch for reactions and absorb impressions, to chip in with an unexpected question. A partner he could discuss the visit with afterwards. But right now he couldn’t spare Becky or any of the other members of his team. There were too many people to speak to, and too many doors to knock on. The first twenty-four hours were so crucial.
    ‘Which lane do you mean?’ said Cooper. ‘Curbar Lane?’
    ‘No, at the back.’
    ‘There’s a small lane running up to Riddings Lodge. Do you mean that one?’
    ‘Yes, it goes as far as Lane End, the Nowaks’ place. We call it Croft Lane.’
    ‘Croft Lane? Is that where you were?’
    Gamble nodded. ‘Thereabouts.’
    Cooper gritted his teeth. Thereabouts wasn’t good enough.
    ‘We’re going to have to take you back there and let you show us the exact spot,’ he said.
    ‘Does it matter?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘There was a tree,’ said Gamble. ‘I was standing near a tree. But it was dark, you see.’
    ‘And what were you doing near this tree?’
    ‘Just … standing. I’d been out for a