Jasper sighed elaborately, but moved from the fireplace. Juliet looked about to object to being ejected from the action, but then her twin shot her a grim warning look, and Juliet clearly thought twice about it. ‘Oh, all right,’ she muttered gracelessly.

Once they were gone, and the door shut behind them, Millie sighed wearily. ‘Please, sit down,’ she said, slipping automatically into hostess mode. She chose for herself a comfortable-looking armchair set at a ninety-degree angle to the sofa. It was, Trudy mused, an astute way to prevent them from being able to watch her face full-on, as they talked.

‘So, how can I help you?’ Millie asked politely.

‘Is it true that you and Mr Parker had … Shall we say, an understanding?’ Trudy began gently.

‘An understanding?’ Millicent repeated questioningly. She opened her big green eyes very wide, and seemed to become somehow even more petite and fragile before their very eyes.

It was, Clement thought, a very neat trick, which he presumed this pocket Venus had often used in the past – probably to good effect. It was certainly designed to bring out the protective instincts in the male heart. Pity his own pump was far too cynical to be fooled.

‘Yes,’ Trudy said firmly. ‘Several people have intimated that they expected an announcement to be made shortly.’

‘I’m awfully sorry, but I’m still all at sea, Constable,’ Millicent said, cocking her head slightly to one side and allowing a small frown to appear between her brows. ‘What sort of announcement do you mean?’

‘An engagement,’ Trudy ploughed determinedly on, getting annoyed with the other woman’s fencing. ‘Isn’t it true that you and Mr Parker were a couple?’

‘Of course not!’ Millie said, sounding and looking genuinely shocked. It was only then that Trudy realised what a truly wonderful actress she was. ‘Mr Parker is – was, I mean – a friend of mine, nothing more,’ she insisted, sounding wounded to the core that anybody could possibly think anything else.

So that was how she was going to play it, Trudy thought. She couldn’t help but admire the older woman, really. After all, how could anyone prove anything different now? With Terry Parker dead, nobody could gainsay her, could they?

‘You really shouldn’t listen to prurient gossip, Constable,’ Millie continued, managing a small, forgiving smile. ‘I’m afraid, as you grow older, you’ll realise that so-called friends can really be rather spiteful. People do so love to imagine scandals where none exist, don’t you find, Dr Ryder?’ Millicent turned to give him a gracious smile.

‘Oh, I’m afraid so,’ Clement agreed mildly, for there was no point in antagonising the woman by insisting that she was a bare-faced liar.

‘I think they get bored,’ she turned back to Trudy, and shrugged.

‘Mr Parker hadn’t proposed to you?’ Like a terrier with a bone, Trudy was not prepared to let it go.