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Stevens had had quite enough of the constable's insubordination. 'Don't push your luck, man. Your friends may have told you that I haven't any power, but I can still get you suspended from duty.'

Hughes refused to look chagrined, but Stevens continued. 'Now then, I told you yesterday that one of them had been kidnapped. Well, he has been found again and wishes to make a statement which needs you to be present as a witness.

'Listen, I've got better things to do than chase your imagination. '

Stevens felt his face fill with blood. 'I don't know exactly why you're being so obstructive, Hughes, but you will be pleased to know that the lad's complaint is against people, real people who kidnapped him and then tried to burn him to death in some sort of ritual. Will that satisfy you?'

'Oh all right, damn you. If it will stop you pestering me, I’ll take your bloody statement and I'll even bloody well send it over to the station at Gwydyr. Satisfied, boyo?'

'Perfectly. If you could only have been so helpful before.’

'Well, just hold on, I'll have to put my uniform on.' Hughes left the kitchen and Stevens heard him rummaging around in the next room. He wandered out into the hall and stood waiting. At last he had got some action, and about time too. What was the point in being a ranking police officer if nobody in the force took any notice of what you wanted doing?

Idly he looked at the ornaments which adorned a small ledge running along the wall. A china cat from Rhyl, a model of the Eiffel Tower, a squat red dragon and what appeared to be a stuffed piranha fish. His eyes roved along the wall and then for some reason he pushed open the door to the front room.

All he saw was the chair in the corner, but at that moment Hughes emerged from the bedroom. He looked at Stevens suspiciously.

‘Well, come on then, boyo, if we must go.’ He ushered Stevens out of the front door ahead of him and turned out the lights before following.

As Stevens got into his car he tried to think of just one reason why Constable Hughes could possibly need as much white hessian as he had seen draped over the arm of the chair in the front room. It wasn’t difficult.

When he had finished noting down David’s statement, Hughes sat back and grinned. ‘Well, at least we know what happened to Gerwyn Jones’s van now.’

‘What?’ asked Sevens.

‘Stolen a couple of days ago. Matches the description given by Mr Gibson. That’ll give us something to go on.’

‘You’re saying that the van was stolen.’

‘ ‘Fraid so, boyo. I ought to go and check up on this stone post that you were tied to. And I’ll take this statement over to Gwydyr, they’ll type it out and I’ll get it back to you for signing. That’s just about everything, I think.’

‘What about identikits?’ Jack asked. ‘David says he could identify some of his assailants.'

‘Don't have those here, sir.'

‘Well, over at Gwydyr then,’ Stevens suggested.

‘It’s late, boyo. Take the lad over in the morning. I’ll be off now.’

‘Wait a moment,' said Jack. 'I want to make a statement as well.’

‘That so?’, Hughes asked resignedly.

‘Yeah, about the centaur You remember – the one you burnt?’

'Lost me there, boyo. Don't know what you re talking about.’

‘Come off it.’

‘Inspector, I said I’d only take this lad’s statement if there wasn’t any of this loony stuff. I’ll be off now.’ He got up and left the pub.

‘He’s mixed up in all this,’ said David.

‘You’re not kidding. Up to his elbows,’ Jack agreed.

Stevens nodded. "There's no doubt about it. If it wasn’t for the way he denied knowing about the centaur, or his lies about the van, then the white robe in his living room would point unerringly in that direction.’

What? He was one of them?'

‘That s what I said.'

‘So what do we do?'

'Well, for one thing we make sure that that statement reaches Gwydyr. Without any mention of centaurs it should be taken seriously. Secondly, I think that you should call the American embassy in London, get them to do something on your behalf. But make sure that