‘Oh, yes, the councillor,’ Alyson replied. She frowned. ‘I read somewhere that he died? Is that right?‘

Geraldine nodded.

‘What was it? Because it wouldn’t surprise me to hear he had a heart attack or a stroke, or something like that. He always seemed so agitated and overexcited whenever I saw him. Of course Jonathan used to deliberately wind him up. The councillor was a horrible man, from what I could see, but even so, I’m sorry he’s dead. I mean, sorry for his family. I didn’t know him.’

‘You went to the meetings where Jonathan heckled him.’

‘Oh yes, that’s right. But I never spoke to him. And I didn’t shout out myself. I was just there.’

When Geraldine asked Alyson why she went to the meetings, her response was vague.

‘My friend, Charlotte Stephens got me into it,’ she replied. ‘We both retired at around the same time and – well, Charlotte’s quite political. I can’t say that I’m all that bothered as a rule. Live and let live. But I don’t approve of the way the council’s been cutting services left, right and centre. Anyway, Charlotte dragged me along to the meetings with her, and to begin with it was fun.’

‘To begin with? What happened after that?’

‘Nothing, really. It became a bit boring, the same shouting every time, and always at David Armstrong, as though it was all his fault that people were losing their jobs.’ She lowered her voice. ‘Between you and me, I think Jonathan had it in for that man.’

‘What about Rod Browning? Where was he in all this?’

‘Oh, he just tagged along, a bit like me, really. He said that this shouting was all well and good, but we ought to be doing something more. Take action, was what he said.’

‘What kind of action?’

Alyson shook her head. ‘I don’t know and if you ask me, that young man didn’t either. It was all talk talk talk from the two of them. Like I said, it became boring after a while, but Charlotte enjoyed all the drama and we go – that is, we used to go for a coffee afterwards, just the two of us, and discuss it all.’ She sighed. ‘It sounds silly, but I lead a dull sort of life these days, and it was a bit of fun, you know. It made me feel young again, as if I was doing something useful.’

Geraldine thanked Alyson for her help and turned to leave.

‘Oh, please, do ask me anything you like,’ Alyson said, clearly eager to detain her.

‘Thank you, but you’ve already been extremely helpful,’ Geraldine assured her.

At least Alyson Read could be crossed off the list of suspects.