Barnaby grinned as he scratched his chin. ‘Hm, now that’s debatable. The mother is a Jack Russell. The farmers like them for rabbiting, but looking at her I have an idea this one might be a cross-breed.’

She was a tiny little thing; black and white with pointy ears, huge brown eyes and a very waggy tail and Amber instantly fell in love with her. ‘But I thought Jack Russells didn’t have tails?’

‘No, I believe they usually have them docked when they’re tiny but as I said, I think this one was destined for the bucket if I hadn’t gone along when I did.’

Charlotte and the puppy were rolling around the floor together and it was already obvious that they were going to be the best of friends.

‘I suppose we should think of a name for her,’ Amber mused as she watched the antics and then with a grin she suggested, ‘What about Socks? All her feet are black and look a bit like socks, don’t they?’

‘They do actually,’ he agreed with a smile, and so the name was decided and once again Amber thought how considerate of him it had been to bring a little companion for their daughter; it was nice to think that they would grow up together.

*

The next visitor to The Crow’s Nest was Nancy. She arrived the following Sunday afternoon and she came with gossip. ‘There’s been another two shops broken into in the market square,’ she told Amber as she sipped at a glass of lemonade Amber had made that morning.

It was a glorious day with the sun shining high in a cloudless blue sky and they had carried the kitchen chairs out to the orchard where they could sit and watch Charlotte and Socks rolling about on the grass. ‘Luckily there was no one ’urt this time.’ She shook her head. ‘Bertie Preston is still the prime suspect but no one ’as seen ’ide nor ’air of ’im for weeks, although he’s got to be still hidin’ out around ’ere somewhere. I tell you what, I wouldn’t like to be in ’is shoes when they do catch ’im. I reckon he’ll be for the noose if they can pin old Mrs Tilsley’s murder on ’im. His mother’s ’ouse ’as been robbed an’ all an’ she’s furious. They took her rent money. I doubt they’d find much else in there.’

Amber shuddered and hoping to lighten the mood, she suggested, ‘Do you fancy takin’ Charlotte an’ Socks down on the beach for a while? I could do with a paddle in the sea to cool me down.’

‘Sounds good to me!’ Nancy responded.