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superintendent as he came into the room.
    Daniel didn’t mean to sigh, but when McCrum heard it, he laughed quietly in acknowledgment.
    “All we go through, but still we’re not used to this.”
    Daniel coughed and nodded. For the first time he felt an affinity for the man.
    “The hardest thing I ever had to do. Watch that poor woman when she saw that little ’un—murdered in that way. Hard . . . do you have children, Daniel?”
    He shook his head.
    “I have two. Doesn’t bear bloody thinkin’ about, does it?”
    “The situation—”
    “The situation has changed. We’re probably going to charge him with little Ben’s murder.”
    “On what grounds? From what I have—”
    “He was witnessed fighting Ben, and we found him dead shortly afterward. We now have an oral report from forensics confirming little Ben’s blood on Sebastian’s shoes and clothes. There was more blood-stained clothing in the house. We’ll be asking him about this over the next few hours. We’ll be applying to a magistrate for more time if we don’t get a confession by two. We got the warrant for Richmond Crescent this morning and the forensics team is still there . . . who knows what else they’ll throw up.”
    “What about the CCTV footage?”
    “We’re still going through it. Nothing yet. You know how long that takes . . .”

4
    D aniel got up in the morning, dressed, and went downstairs. Minnie was not there and he hung around in the kitchen for a few moments wondering what to do. He had not really slept. He had not returned the china butterfly when he brushed his teeth. He had hidden it in the room. He had decided that he was never going to give it back. He wanted to keep it only because she wanted him to return it. He didn’t even know why he had picked it up, but now it had value to him.
    “There you are, pet. You hungry?”
    She was dragging a pail of animal feed into the hall.
    “I’ll make us some porridge and then I’ll show you round. Show you your jobs. We all have jobs to do around here.”
    Daniel frowned at her. She talked as if she had a large family, but it was only her and the animals.
    Minnie made porridge and cleared a space on the table so they could eat. She made a strange sound when she was eating, as if she was breathing it in. After she swallowed, she would make a tutting sound in appreciation of the taste. The noise distracted Daniel and so she finished first.
    “There’s more if you want it, pet.”
    Again, he said that he was full.
    “Fine then. Let’s go to it. You don’t have wellies, do you?”
    He shook his head.
    “It’s all right. I have pretty much all sizes. Come on.”
    Outside, she opened the shed and he stepped inside. It smelled of damp earth. Along one wall was a row of rubber boots, large and small, just as she had said. There were ten or twelve pairs all in a row. Some were baby size and then there was a pair of giant, man-size, green Wellington boots.
    “Are these all the kids you’ve taken in?” he asked as he tried a pair on.
    “And then some,” she said, bending over to tidy up one or two that had fallen on their sides. When she bent over, her skirt rode up at the back to expose her white calves.
    “How long have you been fostering then?”
    “Oh, I don’t know, love. Must be more than ten years now.”
    “D’you get sad when the kids leave?”
    “Not if they’re going to happy places. One or two’ve gotten adopted by nice families . . .”
    “Sometimes you get to go back to yer mam, though . . .”
    “That’s right. Sometimes, if it’s for the best.”
    His boots were a little too big, but they would do. He followed Minnie as she opened the door of the chicken coop and stepped inside. The coop smelled of pee. Birds clucked at his feet and he thought of kicking them away, as he did with pigeons in the park, but he stopped himself.
    “I look after Hector,” she said. “He’s old and he can be a bit bad tempered. I do him as soon as I get up.