“Did you notice anything unusual on the road? Did you see anyone?”

“I can’t remember. It was hard work just to keep the car on the road. I’ve never known a fog like that one.”

“So Bernard Cranshaw was alone for over an hour while you were fetching the doctor?”

“Well, he wasn’t alone. His mother was with him.”

“He wouldn’t have left his mother to go out on the marsh,” said Ella, eager to contribute. “He’s very close to his mother, isn’t he, Jack?”

Jack nodded.

“Was Bernard dressed when he came out of the house to tell you about his mother’s fall?” George asked.

Jack nodded again. “He said that he’d got up early to go out birdwatching.”

“When you came back with the doctor was there any sign that he’d been out at all?”

“I got the impression that he’d stayed with his mother, but it never occurred to me that he might have gone out.”

“Has Bernard ever been married?” asked Molly, trying to form a picture of the strange man whom George had described to her.

“No,” Ella replied. “ There was some talk about it a few years back when he was seeing a lot of a nurse in Skeffingham, but his mother was very ill again, and nothing came of it.”

“How long did the doctor stay at the Cranshaws’ house?” George found the whole incident of Cranshaw’s mother frustrating. He could not quite believe it.

“Oh, only a matter of minutes I think. There was nothing seriously wrong with Mrs. Cranshaw. I waited and took the doctor home. Then I went back to Anchor Lane to start bait-digging. Bernard was still there then.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

“No, I didn’t even see him. I could hear him and his mother talking. They’d left the window open.”

“You must be right then,” said George reluctantly. “ He didn’t kill Tom French. I suppose that he might have gone out in the hour when you were fetching the doctor, but it wouldn’t have given him much time, especially as the murderer moved the body. He had no way of knowing that you’d take so long. The forensic report said that it was possible, although unlikely, that he was killed after seven thirty. He was certainly dead by nine. What time did you get back to Anchor Lane after taking the doctor home?”

“It must have been about eight fifteen, but Bernard didn’t leave the house before nine. I was working at that end of the beach and I could hear them talking. You know how sound carries in the fog.”

“In that case I think that we can discount Bernard Cranshaw.”

In the silence that followed Jack refilled the glasses and Ella made tea. When she was settled on her stool once more George turned to her.

“Tom came to have a meal with you a few days before he died. How did he seem? Can you remember what you were talking about?”