‘We didn’t like the Matthews very much,’ said Theo frankly.
‘The Matthews? Either of them?’
The brothers looked at each other. Cooper noticed the older brother, Theo, wore a discreet hearing aid tucked among his greying strands of hair. Theo rubbed the palms of his hands on his fleece.
‘Jonathan really,’ he said. ‘That young man doesn’t belong. He has no interest in anything.’
‘He just complains all the time,’ said Duncan.
‘And Faith?’
‘Well, she insisted on bringing him,’ said Theo. ‘She spoiled it for us. And look what’s happened now.’
‘You don’t blame Faith for her own death?’
Theo shuffled his feet. ‘She didn’t get on well with the girls,’ he said. ‘Millie and Karina. They laughed at Jonathan, and they called Faith “the headmistress”.’
‘Are you sure?’ said Cooper. ‘Sophie Pullen is the one who’s a school teacher.’
‘No, the girls liked Sophie. They called Faith that because she obviously disapproved of them. She didn’t like them being around Darius all the time, for example. They made an awful fuss of him.’
‘They are a bit silly,’ broke in Duncan suddenly. ‘To be honest.’
‘So what do you think happened to Faith?’ asked Cooper.
‘Well, we have our own little theory,’ said Duncan.
He looked at his brother, a bit coy now. Cooper was beginning to get irritated with them. They reminded him of Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Through the Looking Glass. Those characters had irritated him even as a child.
‘And are you going to tell me what your theory is?’ he said impatiently.
‘It might be nothing,’ said Theo. ‘But we were talking about it today. And it’s all to do with those silly girls.’
Cooper left the nursery clutching a plant the Gould brothers had given him. Its name was written on a label stuck into the pot, but it was in Latin and he couldn’t remember what they’d said it was.
Theo Gould had assured him the plant would grow fine in his little patch of garden in Foolow. They might not have accounted for the fact that Hope had already claimed it as her outdoor toilet, though.
The gift hadn’t eased his irritation with the brothers. After talking to the Goulds, he was no closer to getting an answer about what had happened among the members of the New Trespassers Walking Club.
Each person Cooper spoke to seemed to point a finger at one of the others.
‘So the Gould brothers think it was some stupid prank by the two students?’ said Carol Villiers when Ben Cooper got back to the office.
‘Yes, a joke that went badly wrong. According to them, Millie Taylor and Karina Scott thought it was hilarious when Sophie Pullen fell into the bog earlier on, and they thought they’d play a trick on someone else.’
‘And Faith Matthew was just the unfortunate member of the group who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?’ said Villiers.
Cooper recalled Theo Gould’s exact words: Those silly girls. They were only messing around, I’m sure — trying to push people into the peat bog so they’d get their feet wet. I don’t think they would have realised they were pushing Faith off a drop. That was why they were so distressed afterwards.
‘So it could have been anyone who died at Dead Woman’s Drop?’ Villiers was saying. ‘We’re wasting our time examining Faith’s relationships with the rest of the group?’
‘Let’s not be too hasty. We need to get their accounts. If Millie and Karina have been hoping so far that no one has guessed what happened, then they might be ready to spill the whole story when we ask them directly. A fatal misjudgement like that doesn’t sit well in anyone’s conscience for very long. It needs to come out.’
‘Theo Gould is right, though. They did look pretty shaken up when the MRT retrieved them from Kinder. The doctor said they were suffering from shock.’
‘It will have hit home by now. They’ve had plenty of time to think about it.’
‘Let me and Becky interview them,’ said Villiers. ‘We’ll get anything there is to get from them.’
Cooper considered it, and realised it was a good idea.
‘Yes, all right.’
Before Villiers could leave, Luke Irvine came in to report on the results of his research.
‘I’m still working on Darius Roth’s business set-up,’ he said. ‘It’s pretty complicated. But Darius Roth is definitely a busy man. He recently came up with a scheme for the old water-treatment works outside Hayfield.’
‘Just below the reservoir?’
‘That’s it. It’s been empty for twenty years since they built a new facility at Wybersley. I think United Utilities have been trying to sell it for a while. Mr Roth wanted to buy the building and develop it.’
‘Into what?’ asked Cooper.
‘He had plans drawn up for a visitor centre telling the history of Kinder Scout and that mass trespass you were talking about. There was going to be a café and shop, and all kinds of other facilities. The main building on the site is the former filter house and there’s around ten thousand square feet of floor space, as well as a couple of acres of grounds.’
‘Sounds like an ideal development. What went wrong?’
‘Funding,’ said Irvine. ‘He couldn’t convince the vendors that he had the money to see the development through.’
‘Seriously?’ said Villiers. ‘But he’s supposed to be loaded.’
‘That’s the impression he gives.’
‘Interesting,’ said Cooper. ‘Anything else?’
‘Yes. Five years ago, Darius Roth was granted planning permission by High Peak Borough Council for the conversion of a disused church building to residential use.’
‘What church?’
‘It says here the former Primitive Methodist chapel.’
‘In Hayfield?’
‘Somewhere on the outskirts, I think,’ said Irvine. ‘Highgate Road?’
‘Is there a site map with the planning application?’
‘Yes, I’ve printed it out for you.’
Cooper studied the map Irvine handed him. The site of the application was small, and rather isolated from the residential part of the village, surrounded only by agricultural land and a few acres of woodland. Perhaps the Primitive Methodists were considered a bit too primitive even for Hayfield.
He compared the location to the map pinned on his wall, where the Roths’ home was marked.
‘Do you know what?’ said Cooper. ‘I think this site actually adjoins the Roths’ property on its southern boundary.’
‘Blimey, they must have a big garden,’ said Irvine.
‘I’m not sure the word “garden” really covers it,’ said Cooper, recalling the gently undulating slopes, recently mowed by the Roths’ gardener, with their spectacular views of Chinley Head and the Sett Valley, and the dark copse of trees covering the southern slopes at the foot of Kinder.
‘If you get Google Maps up,’ said Irvine, ‘we’ll be able to see the satellite image.’
‘Good idea.’
When Cooper zoomed in on the screen, he found that Trespass Lodge looked even more impressive viewed from above. That was often the way with a large property. On the ground, you only ever saw a small portion of it all at once. A visitor might never guess the size of the house or the extent of the surrounding land.
‘That must be the chapel,’ said Irvine, pointing at the screen.
‘Yes, I think you’re right, Luke. It’s very close. If Darius Roth had plans for that building, he might have intended to incorporate it into his own property.’
‘But what would he do with it?’ said Villiers. ‘Convert it into a house, I suppose — though it looks a bit small.’
‘He couldn’t knock it down, because it’s Grade II listed,’ pointed out Irvine. ‘The planning permission is quite specific about the conditions. Perhaps he could rent it out as a holiday let?’