Then she went to her father and smiled, while he put his arm around her and squeezed her and called her his little girl. It was not, after all, an inaccurate description, Eve thought. There was something remarkably childlike about her.

Simon Barton stood just inside the door, watching his wife’s performance. He was short, sturdy, muscular. She caught his eye and turned away to talk again to Jeremy. Olivia called them all into the dining room to eat.

The interruption came when they were eating cheese. It seemed to Eve, who had been careful because she was driving, that they had all had a lot to drink. Even she felt a little light-headed, so the banging of the door in another room, the sound of raised voices, was only of mild interest. No one else took any notice. Perhaps, she thought, it would have been bad manners to comment. Then the dining-room door was flung open and it was impossible for the diners to pretend that everything was normal. A tall, large-boned woman with a shock of white hair stood just inside the room, followed by a flustered housekeeper.

‘I want to talk to you!’ the woman said. Eve saw that her boots had left muddy footprints across the pale carpet. She felt wonderfully entertained.

‘Ursula!’ Marcus Grenville said in his mellow satisfied voice. ‘Whatever is the matter?’ He patted Eve’s hand reassuringly as if to say: don’t worry. The old girl’s mad as a hatter. But perfectly harmless.

Ursula Ottley took a deep breath and seemed determined at self control.

‘You are a murderer,’ she said. ‘And a hypocrite.’

Grenville seemed about to interrupt but she continued, quite reasonably.

‘You pretend to be interested in the countryside, but today on your land I found illegal poison, which had already killed a buzzard and two cats. I have the evidence and you will be prosecuted. I am here to tell you that I intend to give the matter as much publicity as the media are prepared to offer. You are not to be trusted with our countryside and I will make it my business to see that you are never given responsibility for it again.’

‘Poison?’ Grenville said. ‘ You’ve found poison on the estate? But that’s impossible. I gave orders …’

She took no notice of him and turned sharply so the mud on her boot was ground into the carpet, then she left the house without a word.

Chapter Four