‘We have,’ said Mr Weston. ‘We’ve never heard of her. When they told us she’d been staying with Jenny, we thought she was probably one of the girls she worked with, who had nowhere to stay. Jenny would have put her up for a while. She was like that.’

‘But Ros Daniels never worked at Global Assurance, as far as we can tell.’

‘So we’re told. Jenny must have met her somewhere else.’

‘Any idea where that might have been?’

‘Sorry, no.’

‘The only other people she ever talked about were the ones in the animal welfare groups,’ said Mrs Weston. ‘You could try them.’

‘We will.’ Fry stared at her cooling tea. ‘I also want to ask you whether your daughter had mentioned being bothered by anybody. Did she complain about anyone hanging round outside her house or following her? Did she refer to any unwanted or nuisance phone calls?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Like a stalker?’ said Mrs Weston. ‘You mean like a stalker?’

‘That sort of thing.’

‘She never said anything,’ said Mr Weston.

‘There was the phone call,’ said his wife.

‘Oh?’

Mr Weston had retreated further into his armchair and was watching the two women helplessly, as if he was no part of what was going on.

‘Jenny mentioned she had been phoned up,’ said Mrs Weston. ‘She didn’t say it was a nuisance call, exactly. She just thought there was something strange about it. But she never took it any further, as far as I know. It just happened to be on her mind when I was speaking to her.’

‘Who made this phone call?’

Mrs Weston stared at her. ‘The police, of course. They said it was to check up on home security. But they asked some funny questions, and she didn’t think it was quite right.’

‘Did Jenny give you the name of the officer who phoned?’

‘No.’

‘A man or a woman?’

‘A man, I think. Yes, definitely.’

‘He didn’t give any identification?’

‘I’ve no idea,’ said Mrs Weston irritably. She looked at her husband again, and back at Fry. ‘You mean he might not have been from the police at all?’ she said.

‘I’m afraid that’s possible.’

The couple shook their heads in unison. ‘Jenny was always too trusting,’ said Mrs Weston. ‘It took her a long time to learn the truth about people. All those terrible men. She was better off with just herself and the cat, if truth be told.’

‘Could this phone call have been in connection with the burglary at your cottage in Ashford?’ asked Fry.

‘Oh, the burglary,’ said Eric Weston. ‘Why do you want to talk about that?’

‘We’re following up everything we can, sir.’

‘I suppose so.’

‘You’ve not seen any sign of Wayne Sugden since then? Your daughter didn’t mention him getting in contact?’

‘But that man is in prison, isn’t he?’

‘Not any more, sir.’