As the train sped through the darkening countryside he considered the events of the day. He stretched his legs and opened his eyes and thought he would treat himself to a Scotch. He was quite certain that Daniel Craven had murdered Ursula Ottway, and that by the end of the next day it would all be over.

He was the only person to get out at Appleworth station and after a moment of shouts and banging doors the train moved away and he was left alone. After the city the place seemed very quiet and clean. A tawny owl flew out of the trees on the other side of the track. He felt quite awake and wanted the investigation to be finished. From a call box he telephoned the police station, thinking there was a chance that Benwell might be working late. If he was still on duty they could get a warrant and go to Craven that night. They could have the thing over by morning. But no one from CID was on duty and he had to drive on to Back Rigg, keyed up and impatient, unable to relax.

‘But I don’t understand,’ Molly said, ‘why Craven killed Ursula.’ They were sitting in the dim light of the kitchen. She had been waiting for him on his return, wrapped up in the faded candlewick dressing gown she must have had for thirty years. She made milky drinks and listened to his story patiently. He was excited and full of all that had happened. Then she could keep quiet no longer. ‘ I can see why he put the poisoned bait on the hill to coincide with the Conservation Conference. That was to embarrass Grenville in front of the delegates. It was obviously Craven who phoned the police about the buzzard and Craven who leaked the story to the press. If he believed Grenville was responsible for Kate’s death it would be quite a satisfactory means of revenge. But where does Ursula come into it?’

There was a silence. George had to admit the force of her argument but he was committed to the idea that Craven was a murderer. He searched desperately for an explanation.

‘I’m not sure,’ he said at last. ‘Perhaps she found out that he’d been putting down the poison.’

‘So what?’ Molly demanded. ‘Why should Craven care if he was discovered? He need only say that he was acting under Marcus Grenville’s instructions and he could cause even more embarrassment. It might have meant him losing his job but he doesn’t seem to have bothered much about his own position.’

‘I don’t know,’ George said unhappily, too proud to dismiss his theory without a fight. ‘There must be an explanation. Perhaps he’ll tell us when we talk to him in the morning.’

‘Listen,’ she said and she told him the story of Cassie and Joanna. ‘Doesn’t that seem a more potent motive for murder?’