‘D’you like working for the Ockwells?’ asked the guvnor.
‘Happy,’ said Willoughby. ‘Going back to my brother’s soon. Go live there. Dad do it.’
‘Your father? That’s good.’
‘No. Dad, he do it.’
‘Not your father?’
‘Mr Godwin, he’s my dad. We’re family now.’
‘Mr Godwin’s your father?’ asked the guvnor, his head tilted in confusion.
‘He died, father did. Mr Godwin’s my dad now. Dad, I call him.’
‘Ah, I see. You mean you just call him Dad.’
‘Call him.’
‘Did you grow up here in the village, Willoughby?’
‘Kennington, with John. And father. And ma.’
‘And what about Digger? Where’s he from?’
‘He don’t talk.’
‘D’you like working here, Digger?’ asked the guvnor. ‘You can nod or shake your head.’
Digger held the guvnor’s eye for a moment. His breath caught, like he was nervy. He looked away.
‘We’re best workers,’ said Willoughby, his smile broad again. ‘Dad say it. Best he’s had. We’re family now. And Mr Walter, and Miss Rosanna. They love us. Like family. D’you know my brother, Mr Arrowood? John. D’you know him?’
‘I’m afraid I’ve never met your brother.’
‘I go live with him. Dad say. Dad knows John.’
The fellow nodded. His tongue came out of his mouth and passed over his cracked lips.
‘Willoughby, I want you to think hard now. Is there any reason Birdie’s not happy? Any reason at all?’
‘Happy,’ he said, but he didn’t sound sure.
‘Do they hurt her?’
‘Hurt her.’
‘They do?’
Willoughby fell silent. He looked up at the crows, his mouth opening and closing.
‘I’m happy,’ he said at last.
The guvnor looked at me and frowned. ‘Tell me, do they have any children up there?’
Willoughby shook his head and glanced over at the field again.
‘Got to go, sir. Get back to work.’
Digger had already turned and was crossing the stream. Willoughby followed.
‘D’you know where Mrs Gillie is, Willoughby?’
‘Seen her last night. Over larch field.’
‘Well, bye bye, lads,’ said the guvnor. ‘We’ll call on you again.’
‘I hope so,’ said Willoughby. ‘I’ll dream of that.’
‘What a pleasant boy,’ said the guvnor as they disappeared through the trees.
‘Reckon he’s a man, sir,’ I replied. ‘Twenty-five year at least.’
‘Well, I like him.’ He sighed, patted his belly, and looked around the camp. It was only then I spotted the crows, three of them, standing by a bush on the other side of the stream. They were pecking away at something hidden in the leaves. A bad feeling came over me. As I approached, the birds hopped away, watching me with their dead, black eyes. One had a string of flesh hanging out of its mouth. It was only when I stepped over the fallen tree I saw what they’d been picking at: it was Mrs Gillie’s cat, its innards pulled and scraped from its shell.
‘Look, William,’ I said, pointing.
Its skull was beaten to a pulp.
The same young fellow was behind the desk of the police station when we arrived. He went into the back room to fetch Sergeant Root, who listened to the guvnor’s story with a frown, his dirty fingers tap-tapping on the desk.
‘She’s joined another camp,’ he said when the guvnor finished, his eyelids drooping like he was bored. ‘They don’t stay in one place long.’
‘She’s left her horse, her coat, her boots,’ answered the guvnor. ‘Her caravan door was wide open, Sergeant.’
‘They’re easy like that. I appreciate you letting us know, sir.’
Root turned back to the room.
‘Sergeant!’ said the guvnor sharply. ‘You must at least go down and have a look. She’s an old woman, for pity’s sake!’
‘Tinkers disappear, that’s what they do. And usually after they’ve emptied a house of its silverware. You know they’ve been thieving from the building sites, I suppose?’
‘There’s been trouble, I tell you,’ said the guvnor. ‘The flowers she sells are scattered on the ground. And how d’you explain the cat? No animal could have done that.’
‘Killing a cat ain’t a crime, Arrowood, just as not wanting to see your parents ain’t neither.’
The young copper nodded at this. His neck was pale and long out of his frayed uniform jacket. Root pulled out his watch.
‘Half one, Thomas,’ he said to the lad. ‘I’m off for dinner. You hold the fort.’
He took a thick, black overcoat from the peg and wrapped himself in it.
‘Please, Sergeant,’ said the guvnor. Though he seemed to be asking a favour, his voice had a hard edge to it. ‘Have a look. That’s all we ask.’
The copper buttoned his coat, then pulled his gloves from his pocket. He took his helmet from another hook and jammed it on his head. Finally, he replied:
‘Mr Arrowood. I’m grateful you bringing this to me, but it’s honest folk as pay our wages, not the likes of them. If she’s had trouble it’s from her own kind. They don’t want to be like the rest of us. Don’t want to be in with us.’ He opened the door and stepped out. ‘Her and her lot been staying round here when it suits them ever since I can remember. They’ve their own justice. Don’t appreciate the police poking around their affairs.’
‘She might be in danger!’ exclaimed the guvnor, making a grab for his arm.
‘Get off me!’ barked the copper, his face and neck come over quite red. He prised the guvnor’s fingers from his arm, stepped out into the cold street, and banged shut the door.
‘Damn!’ cursed the guvnor. He looked at the lad. ‘I don’t suppose you’d come and have a look, son?’
‘Wouldn’t know what to look for, sir,’ said the boy. ‘I only started here last week. Just been stood here, really.’
We had a sandwich in the pub, then called on Sprice-Hogg. The parson was on his way out. His overcoat was missing two buttons; his curly white hair fell from his broad-brimmed hat.
‘We enjoyed ourselves the other night, didn’t we, gentlemen?’ he asked, his smile like a basket of chips.
‘That