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emergency call, she kept saying, “
There’s something wrong with his head. Something very wrong
.”’
    ‘Let’s talk to her, then.’
    The information centre had been closed for the time being. A stream of visitors’ cars were being turned away. Through the trees, Cooper could see vehicles creeping along the road, their occupants craning their necks to see what was going on in the car park. Rumours would be going around soon enough.
    Heeley Bank was a popular visitor location, just a few miles outside Edendale. It had a large car park, a toilet block and picnic area. Below the centre, marked trails wound their way through the woods down to a loop of the River Eden, where it ran fast and noisily through a steep limestone gorge, bubbling over rocks and weirs.
    Above the road, the hillside rose and rose through banks of heather and gorse to a gritstone moor topped by the outlines of weather-worn tors. Cooper had seen those tors up close. There were rock formations called the Old Man, the Witches, the Howling Dog. They created a dark and ominous landscape.
    ‘Yes, the car was there last night when I left,’ said Marnie Letts. ‘The blue BMW. I do remember it. Most makes of car I don’t recognise, but I know a BMW when I see one.’
    Shewas a slight woman in her late twenties, with dark hair cut into a short bob. She was wearing a baggy mauve T-shirt with a logo on the chest. Cooper supposed it was a kind of staff uniform. It didn’t do her any favours. But then it probably wouldn’t have suited anyone.
    ‘Did you take any notice of the driver?’ he asked.
    ‘None at all. I don’t think I really saw him.’
    Cooper nodded. It was probable that the driver hadn’t wanted anyone to notice him. If someone had, if just one person had seen him properly and realised something was wrong, the outcome for him might have been different.
    ‘What other vehicles were parked near the BMW last night, Miss Letts?’ he asked. ‘Can you remember that?’
    ‘I couldn’t really say. Well, there was a family in a big people-carrier sort of thing. A couple with bikes on the back of their car.’
    ‘Where were they in relation to the BMW?’
    Marnie waved vaguely around the car park. She wasn’t as distressed as he’d expected. Perhaps she’d got all the screaming and panicking out of her system. Some people were like that. They went off like fire-works, then calmed down very quickly. She was still slightly distracted, as if she couldn’t quite focus on what had happened. He could understand that. It was a bit unreal for anyone.
    ‘The people-carrier was near the centre,’ she said. ‘The cyclists were parked over by the toilets. They had a red car, a four-wheel drive, I think. They weren’t close enough to see the driver of the BMW.’
    ‘Canyou be sure of that?’
    She shrugged. ‘No, I suppose not. You’d have to ask them.’
    ‘Did you recognise any of these people? Were they familiar faces?’
    ‘Are you kidding? They were just visitors. We get thousands of them in the summer. I only took account of them at all because they were the last here when we closed. When the place is full, I don’t notice anybody in particular.’
    ‘Yes, I understand,’ said Cooper.
    A memory passed across her face suddenly. ‘Oh, and there was a black Land Rover,’ she said.
    ‘Last night. Where was that parked?’
    ‘Under the big tree in the shade,’ said Marnie. ‘People who come here regularly in the summer always try to claim that spot if it’s sunny, so their car isn’t too warm inside when they get back from a walk. It’s in sun in the morning, but shade in the afternoon.’
    ‘Did you see who was in the Land Rover?’
    She shook her head. ‘No. I only noticed it because it looked more like a farmer’s vehicle. It’s unusual to get them in here among the visitors’ cars.’
    ‘She held up pretty well,’ said Cooper when they allowed Marnie to leave. ‘She would make a good witness.’
    ‘If she’d actually