‘I meant did you know about Ellen sitting with him until ’very end?’

Tannerson’s lips parted. ‘No. I didn’t. I didn’t know she knew him.’

Lizzie shook her head. ‘She didn’t,’ she said, and handed him a letter that she had opened only that morning. ‘This is to say that ’deceased, Jim Smith, may now be removed from ’mortuary and taken for burial.’

He took it, and after glancing at the contents he held her gaze for a few seconds before getting up from the desk and unhooking his outdoor coat and hat from the coat stand. ‘I’m just slipping out,’ he said, putting the letter into his pocket. ‘If anyone wants me I’ll be back this afternoon.’

She nodded and rose from the desk to cross to the shelf where she intended to file the unwanted papers. Catching sight of Tannerson in the yard below, she watched from the window as he went into the stable block, coming out a few minutes later leading a black roan, which he hitched to a trap and drove off through the gates. Her gaze wandered over the yard, noting the buildings that had been undamaged in the fire, until she saw a shadow by the entrance. A man was standing there, half hidden by the wall. He was looking in the direction Tannerson had driven and she saw how he bent forward as if to watch his progress.

She took a step back out of sight when she saw him turn and head towards the office stairs. Who was he, and why didn’t he speak to Tannerson if that had been his intention? She heard his booted feet as he ran up the stairs and she swiftly stepped to the side of a filing cabinet where she was hidden from the door.

The door handle moved slowly, as if being tested, and was then pulled down so that the door clicked open. He was no one she had seen before, not an engineer or insurance official; more a working man by his garb. He crossed to the desk and leaned over it, and then, as if becoming more confident, moved to the other side where he sat in her chair and opened a drawer.

‘May I assist you?’ she asked in a calm and confident voice, quite unlike the way she was feeling, but she had the satisfaction of seeing him gasp in alarm as he jumped up.

‘I’m – I’m looking for Tann – erm – Mr Tannerson.’ His face flushed.

‘You won’t find him inside my desk,’ she said coldly. ‘What else did you want? We don’t keep money on the premises.’

‘I’m not a thief! I work here, or I did until ’fire.’

‘Did you? What’s your name? I have a full list of employees.’ She opened the top drawer of the cabinet, not taking her eyes from him, and drew out a random sheet of paper.