‘Someone with a beef with both of them, you mean?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Hm.’ He tipped his head from side to side, considering. ‘I’ll put some feelers out for you, but I haven’t heard anything, sorry. I’m not saying I would have, necessarily, but word gets around. Leave it with me but just don’t get your hopes up, all right?’

‘That’s the one mistake I’m not making at the moment.’

Chapter Seventeen

‘Morning,’ said Maggie, getting into the car. ‘How was your weekend?’ She had her black coat on again, collars up, a purple scarf hanging either side of her neck. Coming down the path just now, she’d looked like the priest from The Exorcist.

‘Okay. Yours?’

‘All right. Had Sunday lunch with a friend, sat around. What did you do?’

‘Len helped Mum and Dad in the garden yesterday morning, planting some bulbs – agapanthus, apparently, whatever they are – then we all went for a wander round Sarehole Mill in the afternoon. I remembered it after seeing Becca’s Instagram – Len’s read The Lord of the Rings about twenty times, I thought she might be interested.’

‘Was she?’

‘Yeah. It all looked a bit muddy outside, being February, but she liked the exhibition. And the tea shop.’

‘Good to show her some of the local stuff, while you’re here. What did you do on Saturday?’

‘Went to London.’

‘Did you?’ Sharp eyes from the passenger seat.

‘To cheer her up. And for something to do, to be honest.’ She saw Maggie’s eyebrows flick up, sceptical, but chose to ignore it.

‘Any news on Josh?’

Robin hesitated. When she’d called on Friday night to say she’d spoken to Tarryn, she hadn’t told Maggie she’d also spoken to Samir; she’d needed time to absorb what he’d said first. She knew she could rely on Maggie to keep it to herself, though. ‘Samir called me,’ she said. ‘They’ve had the post mortem back. She was already dead when the fire started. It was a head injury, a single blow to the temple with their table lamp.’

Maggie squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Oh, Rob.’

‘They’re not looking for anyone else.’

Maggie took a second, choosing her words. ‘How do you feel about that?’

‘I don’t believe Josh would set the house on fire if he knew Pete was upstairs. I never will. Even if he’d lost it with Rin, which I also struggle to accept. But his child …’

‘How is Peter?’

‘That’s why we went to the Mill yesterday – a distraction. I’d been texting Will about taking Lennie to visit but he called to say not to. He’s got a respiratory infection.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘Well, family visitors only – they want to minimize his exposure. From a recovery standpoint … It was one of the things they were most afraid of.’