‘What you’re telling me is that someone had unauthorised access to that outhouse and that you were aware of it.’ He stood up to confront Liddle. ‘Who is this friend of yours and where can I find him?’

Maureen Quinn sat in the gloom with her hands in her lap and her head on her chest. Time meant nothing to her. She was so preoccupied that hours slipped past unnoticed. Unknown to her, people had come and gone throughout the morning. When the heavy door squealed back on its hinges yet again, she was unaware of it. Even the clang of the iron latch being replaced failed to rouse her. It was her mother’s voice that finally brought her out of her meditation.

‘Maureen!’ cried Diane Quinn. ‘Thank heaven we found you!’

‘I had a feeling that she might be here,’ said Keedy.

Diane rushed to the pew at the rear of the church and embraced her daughter. It was a poignant reunion, both of them weeping copiously. It was some while before Diane was able to offer an explanation. She indicated Keedy.

‘When he came to the house yesterday,’ she said, ‘the sergeant noticed that you were wearing a crucifix. I told him that we don’t go to church very often because your father hates it. That’s why I never even thought to try here. It was Sergeant Keedy who suggested it.’

‘How are you, Maureen?’ he asked, gently.

Her voice was distant. ‘I’m fine, thank you.’

‘Why didn’t you tell us you were coming here?’ demanded Diane.

‘Daddy would have stopped me.’

‘I thought you’d gone to work.’

‘I wanted to,’ said Maureen, ‘but I came here instead.’

‘I was at the factory when your mother came looking for you,’ said Keedy. ‘I went to see Mr Kennett. He was able to tell me something about … the people at that birthday party. He’d gathered a lot of information about them. People said some very nice things about you, Maureen. You have a lot of friends there.’

‘The best ones have all gone.’

‘Is that why you came here — to pray for them?’

Maureen nodded. ‘I needed to think.’

‘I’ll take you home now, darling,’ said Diane, hugging her.

‘I’d like to stay for a bit, Mummy.’

‘But you’ve been here for ages. You must be famished.’

‘I don’t want anything to eat.’

‘At least come away with me. You can think at home.’

‘It’s not the same.’

Maureen continued to protest but her mother wouldn’t be denied. She wanted her daughter where she could see her. Keedy was anxious to return to the factory but he stayed long enough to hear Maureen’s desperate plea.

‘Don’t tell Daddy about this, will you?’ she said. ‘He wouldn’t understand.’

It was Marmion’s turn to meet the works manager. Like Keedy, he found him both pleasant and accommodating. Bernard Kennett answered all his questions readily and offered him free access to the site whenever he wanted it. Factories involved in the war effort were not always so welcoming. Marmion had had tussles with hidebound security systems on more than one occasion. Some managers sought to put the preservation of their rule book above a police investigation. Kennett took the opposite view. In the interests of solving a crime that had unsettled the entire workforce there, he would bend the rules to the full extent. In fact, Marmion drew a blank on his visit but he wasn’t dismayed. Establishing a rapport with Kennett was important. It was something he’d not yet managed to do with the irascible landlord of the Golden Goose.

Taking his leave, Marmion left the building and headed for the main gate. No sooner was he let out than he saw Keedy approaching with his usual jaunty stride.

‘It’s all right for some,’ complained the sergeant. ‘You have use of the car whereas I have to travel by Shanks’s pony.’

‘Mr Kennett told me you’d gone off with Mrs Quinn.’

‘You’ve met him, have you?’

‘Yes, and he’s as helpful as you said.’

‘What brought you here, Harv?’

‘Tell me about Maureen Quinn first. Did you track her down?’

Keedy explained that he’d followed his instinct and reunited mother and daughter. The incident had shown him just how afraid they both were of Eamonn Quinn. They’d agreed to say nothing about Maureen’s disappearance and to make Lily hold her tongue as well. When he got home, Quinn would be unaware of the female conspiracy in his household.

Marmion explained that what had brought him to the factory was a name that had been given to him by Royston Liddle. It belonged to one of the drivers who worked there. Unfortunately, Alan Suggs was not on the premises. He’d driven off with a consignment of shells and would be away for some time. Keedy was not sure that the man was worth pursuing.

‘I reckon he’s in the clear, Harv,’ he said. ‘If he only used that outhouse as a place for a rendezvous with his girlfriend, he wasn’t really breaking the law.’

‘He was trespassing, Joe.’

‘We can’t arrest a man for spending half an hour in an empty outhouse. Apart from anything else, it would blight his romance.’

‘I just want to talk to Suggs.’

‘Well, show a bit of sympathy. Think back to the time when you were courting Ellen. According to Alice, her parents were not exactly impressed at first by the idea of you as a future son-in-law. I bet that you had a few secret meetings when and wherever you could.’

‘That’s beside the point,’ said Marmion, unhappy at the reminder. ‘We didn’t hide in a place where five women were blown up only days later.’

‘Are you saying that Suggs is a suspect?’

‘I’m saying that we should check every lead we have. While I’m waiting for him to drive back here, I’m going to call at the homes of some of the victims and see what I can unearth. I thought I’d start with the one person that Maureen Quinn told us so little about and that’s Shirley Beresford.’

‘Well, I can tell you two significant facts about that young lady,’ said Keedy. ‘The works manager did some research on our behalf. I have his notes.’

‘Excellent — what do they tell you, Joe?’

‘Shirley Beresford was married and she was their star player.’

‘Star player?’

‘Believe it or not, this factory has its own women’s football team. They not only finished top of the league, they’re due to play in a cup final next week against a team from Woolwich. They take the game very seriously.’

‘That is interesting,’ conceded Marmion. ‘What about the other women at that party? Did any of them play in the team?’

‘Yes, they did. Maureen Quinn is their goalkeeper.’

‘Is she any good?’

‘She’s one of the reasons they won the league, Harv. She keeps out shots at one end of the pitch while Shirley Beresford scores goals at the other. They were both crucial members of the team. See what I’m starting to think?’

‘With two of their best players out of the way, they’d be badly weakened in that cup final. Woolwich would be clear favourites.’

‘It all sounds so far-fetched, though,’ argued Keedy. ‘I know that passions run high in sport but would anyone really stoop to something like this?’

Marmion needed a few moments to consider his answer. Weighing heavily with him was the fact the munitions factory at Woolwich would employ lots of people who knew how to handle explosives. Cup finals did tend to intensify feelings.

‘All’s fair in love and football,’ he concluded.

Diane Quinn sat on the bed with an arm around her elder daughter. She’d been so frightened by her disappearance that morning that she didn’t want to let her go. Maureen’s bedroom had blue patterned wallpaper, much of it covered by sepia photographs of the works football team and accounts of their progress cut out of the local newspaper. Her football kit was on a coat hanger on the back of the door and her goalkeeper’s gloves were on the bedside table. A football was tucked in a box among a pile of assorted items. The room was small but it had seemed vastly smaller when Maureen had shared it with her sister. The departure of their brothers to the army allowed the girls to have a room each. It was a boon to Maureen. While she yearned for the safe return of her brothers, she revelled in her new-found privacy.