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face now adorn their fridge. Ranger sends nice letters to Kate, enthusing about eating carrots and frolicking in the fields with his mates, but when they meetface to face he usually seems distinctly underwhelmed. Today is no exception. Visitors aren’t allowed to feed the horses, so when Ranger realises that they aren’t about to be forthcoming with the carrots he turns his back on them.
    ‘Oh, look at his tail,’ says Ruth in desperation, ‘Isn’t it swishy?’
    She is aware that another couple are doing their best to interest their child in the ponies.
    ‘Look,’ the father is saying, ‘Lovely gee-gees. Look Michael.’
    Michael. Ruth turns. A ginger-haired father is holding a baby on the gate. The mother stands nearby with an empty pushchair. She looks rather bored.
    ‘Judy?’
    ‘Ruth! Fancy meeting you here.’
    ‘Oh, Kate and I love the horses,’ says Ruth airily. What would have happened if Judy had seen her with Nelson earlier? What if she’d heard Kate say ‘Dada’ …
    ‘Ranger’s naughty,’ says Kate.
    ‘He looks naughty,’ agrees Judy. ‘I’m a policeman so I can tell.’
    Kate looks at her dubiously. The policeman in her ‘Going to Work’ book doesn’t look anything like Judy.
    ‘You know Darren don’t you?’ Judy is saying.
    ‘We met at your wedding,’ says Ruth.
    ‘Well, I was there all right,’ laughs Darren, holding the baby in front of him like a trophy. ‘Have you met our little superstar?’
    ‘He’s grown so much,’ says Ruth. ‘I hardly recognised him.’
    ‘It was his first birthday last week.’
    Michael looks at her out of big brown eyes. He’s very dark, far darker than the pink-skinned Darren or pale, freckled Judy.
    ‘The boss was here,’ says Judy. ‘Did you see him?’
    ‘Nelson? Oh yes. He was with Michelle.’
    ‘Wouldn’t have thought horses were their thing,’ says Darren.
    ‘The boss likes horses,’ says Judy. ‘It’s Cloughie who’s scared of them.’
    ‘Kate,’ says Ruth, wanting to change the subject. ‘Come and say hallo to the lovely baby.’
    ‘Hallo baby,’ says Kate, without enthusiasm.
    ‘Can you say ‘Kate’,’ says Darren to Michael. ‘Can you say ‘Hallo Kate’?’
    Michael looks intently at Kate but declines to comment.
    ‘Kate’s growing too,’ says Judy. ‘How old is she?’
    ‘She’ll be three in November.’
    ‘Do you remember that time I babysat? In the snowstorm?’
    ‘Yes,’ says Ruth. She doesn’t think she’ll ever forget that night.
    ‘Heard anything from Cathbad?’ asks Judy.
    ‘Yes. I spoke to him on Friday.’
    ‘I never thought he’d stay up there,’ says Judy. ‘Living on his own in the middle of a forest.’
    ‘It’s not exactly a forest,’ says Ruth. ‘I think he likes it. He’s got his dog and he works part-time at the university.’
    ‘I never thought he’d stay,’ says Judy again. She turns and fiddles with the straps on the pushchair.
    ‘Is that the druid chap?’ says Darren. ‘Maybe he’s joined a coven. He lives in Pendle doesn’t he? Pendle witches and all that.’
    ‘A druid isn’t the same as a witch,’ says Judy. ‘Come on Darren, we’d better get Michael home. He’s a nightmare if he doesn’t have his nap. ’Bye Ruth. ’Bye Kate.’
    Ruth watches them go. Darren turns to wave but Judy has her head down, pushing the pushchair fast over the uneven grass. Ruth feels anxious, though she couldn’t have said exactly why. She leans over to give Kate a cuddle and Ranger comes up behind and butts her, hard.

CHAPTER 6
    That night Ruth dreams of Scarlet. She is walking over the Saltmarsh with Nelson, the wind is in her face and the skies are howling. She is in the henge circle with Erik, he is whirling round in a purple cloak until he is a hundred feet tall and his face is made of stone. She is searching in the dark, digging with her bare hands, knowing that if she gets there in time, Scarlet will be saved. She is watching as the police carry Scarlet’s