Ruth goes back downstairs and – hooray! – finds her phone in her cagoule pocket. She clicks on to Messages.

Just one.

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home. Your house is on fire. Your children are gone.

Ruth stands in the hall, frozen in terror. She sees the ruined house with its blank, staring windows. She thinks of Dan in his own hallway, trying desperately to open the locked door. Then she turns and runs back upstairs. Kate is still asleep. Ruth turns off the bedside lamp because lamps can overheat, houses can burn down. Instantly her phone clicks into life.

A new message.

Don’t turn out the light.

Ruth has had enough; she rings Nelson.

CHAPTER 17

Cathbad and Nelson arrive at the same time. They exchange a few words on the doorstep and then Nelson barges in and takes charge. First he runs upstairs to check on Kate, then he holds out his hand for Ruth’s mobile.

‘Can you trace the messages?’ she asks.

‘Yes,’ he says. ‘Mobile phones have a unique number that they send out when they make a call. If I have the number I can trace the call to its local base. That’ll give us a geographical location.’

‘Can you find out who owns the phone?’

‘We can force mobile phone providers to give us that information under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Of course, that only works if they’ve got a contract. If this person’s got any sense they’ll be using pay-as-you-go.’

Ruth sincerely hopes that the texter doesn’t have any sense. ‘They must be close,’ she says. ‘That bit about turning out the light … I’d … I’d just turned out Kate’s light.’

‘I’ll get Sandy to send some boys round,’ says Nelson, trying to sound reassuring though his brows are lowered ominously.

He gets out his own phone and makes a brief call. Ruth hears the words ‘trace … uniforms … protection’. She turns to Cathbad and tries to smile.

‘Welcome back.’

‘What’s going on?’

‘I’ve been getting these texts …’ She explains about the mystery texts. In the background, Nelson is grinding his teeth.

‘You mean you’ve been getting these calls for weeks and you didn’t say anything?’

‘I thought they were just trying to scare me.’

‘Well, they should have scared you. Someone was threatening you, for Christ’s sake. What about Katie? Didn’t you consider her safety?’

‘Of course I did!’ Ruth flares up. ‘I’m with her all the time, unlike you. She’s my first priority. My only priority.’

Nelson spreads out his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘OK, OK. Sandy’s sending a couple of uniforms round to check up on things. In the meantime, let’s all calm down a bit. Have a cup of tea.’

Ruth glares at him but she makes the tea. She resents Nelson jackbooting around but she has to admit that she feels safer when he’s in the house. The furniture seems to have retreated to its usual places and even the rain has stopped. An uneasy calm descends as they sit in the chintzy little sitting room drinking tea while Ruth tells the whole story of the switched bones, Clayton’s nervousness and the texter who didn’t want her to come to Pendle in the first place.

‘There’s a lot of funny business going on at that university,’ says Nelson. ‘Sandy and I went to see Clayton Henry today. He told us there’s this group on campus, a sort of secret society called the White Hand. Apparently they’ve got a fixation with King Arthur.’

Cathbad makes a sound and Nelson turns on him

‘Do you know them?’ asks Nelson, half-joking.

‘Not this group in particular,’ says Cathbad, looking slightly discomforted. ‘But there are some druids, Neopagans they call themselves, who have these extremist views. They adore King Arthur. They worship the Norse Gods. But it’s more than that. They believe that the Norse people, the white Aryan people, are superior.’

‘They’re racists then,’ says Nelson.

‘Yes, they’re racists,’ says Cathbad impatiently. ‘But it’s more complicated than that. They’ve mixed it all up, the pagan stuff, the Norse stuff, and they’ve made it a really potent brew. Anyone who disagrees with them is cursed. There’s a lot of secrecy, a lot of fear.’

‘Are you involved with them?’ asks Nelson.

‘No,’ says Cathbad, ‘but I know of them. Anyone on the druid circuit …’ (Ruth sees Nelson stifle a smile.) ‘Anyone on the druid circuit knows them. They don’t like me because I’m Irish, I’m a Celt. Besides I have friends of every colour. I’m very involved with the Indigenous Australian people, for example. It’s the spirit that matters with me, not the colour of someone’s skin.’

‘All very noble,’ says Nelson, ‘but you know more than you’re letting on.’

Cathbad sighs. ‘Pendragon … since he’s been up north, they’ve been in touch.’

‘What do you mean “in touch”?’

‘There’s a Neo-pagan group at Pendle. I expect it’s these White Hand people. I think Pendragon was mixed up with them a bit at first. He’s no racist but he loves the Norse stuff. Also …’ He looks at Ruth. ‘He’s mad about King Arthur. Well, you can tell that by the name he’s taken.’

‘Uther Pendragon,’ says Ruth.

‘Who’s he when he’s at home?’ says Nelson.

‘Some sources think he was King Arthur’s father,’ says Ruth, who has been reading up on this. ‘Uther was a fifth-century warlord. He’s meant to have defeated Hengest, the Saxon leader, to become King of Britain. They were all fighting at that time, Picts, Celts and Saxons.’

‘Pendragon used to live in Ireland,’ says Cathbad, ‘he’s used to Celts. Some of the others, though, they’re all for the pure-blood English thing. Load of nonsense, of course. There’s no such thing as pure-blood English.’

Nelson, whose own ancestry includes Irish and (so his mother claims) Spanish blood, says, ‘Did whatshisname … Pendragon, say anything about a campaign against Dan Golding?’

Cathbad hesitates. ‘No,’ he says. ‘But when I went over there today, it was like when we first went there, Ruth. Pendragon appeared at the door with a gun. He seemed terrified.’

‘Did he say what he was frightened of?’ asks Nelson.

‘No,’ says Cathbad. ‘My guess is that he was involved with this group at first but then backed out, perhaps when they suggested violence or began with the race-hate stuff. Pendragon’s a gentle soul. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. I think he’s afraid that they’ll come for him, try to punish him for leaving. When I got there today he was burning herbs, making sacrifices, trying to draw a circle of protection around the house.’

‘Did he ever think it might be more helpful to call the police?’ asks Nelson.

Cathbad smiles. ‘He’s not too keen on the police. That’s something else druids have in common.’

Nelson frowns, perhaps thinking of the circumstances of his first meeting with Cathbad. Then he says, ‘Did Pendragon give you a name, anything useful like that?’

‘No, but he did mention someone called the Arch Wizard. He seems to be the one in charge.’

‘He doesn’t have any idea who this Arch Wizard is, I suppose?’

‘No. Pendragon’s seen him but he’s always been masked.’

‘Typical,’ says Nelson. ‘Well I suppose I’d better go and see this Pentangle for myself.’

‘Pendragon,’ corrects Cathbad mildly.

‘Whatever.’

‘I’ll go with you,’ offers Cathbad. ‘It might be safer. Pendragon knows some ancient magic.’

Nelson’s reply, which begins with ‘Bollocks’, is lost because, at that moment, back-up arrives in the form of two young police officers. Their accents are so broad that Ruth can hardly understand them. She notices that Nelson’s own voice changes when he speaks to them. He tells them to check around the house, looking for signs that anyone has been loitering in the area. Ruth notices that even though Nelson can’t have any official status in Blackpool both men immediately do what he asks, affording him the same kind of awed respect he receives from his team in Norfolk.