‘Tom,’ said Jude, ‘didn’t know what the document he was signing was. Apparently, Bill folded it over, so just the space for the signatures was showing.’

‘He didn’t make any secret about it with me. He said, “Put your monicker on this, love. It’s my new will.”’

‘Was that unusual?’ Carole enquired. ‘Him asking you to do that?’

‘God, no. Documents I’ve countersigned for Bill over the years … must be in the hundreds. Particularly after Valerie died. If you live on your own, you often have to get signatures witnessed at work.’

‘And did he take the will back after you’d signed?’

‘No. He told me to put it in an envelope addressed to his solicitor and post it the next day.’

‘And, again, was that an unusual thing for him to ask you to do?’

‘Not at all. I do all the office work at Shefford’s. Have done for years. Sending out invoices, paying bills … anything that goes in the post, that’s down to me. Always has been.’

‘But I assume,’ said Jude gently, ‘that in this case you didn’t do as Bill told you? You didn’t put the will in the post to the solicitor?’

‘No,’ Frankie admitted.

‘Why not?’ demanded Carole, steelier than her neighbour.

‘Because I didn’t think what he was doing was a good idea.’

‘And did you know what he was doing? Did you read the will?’

‘Didn’t need to, did I? I knew what was in it.’

‘How? Had you seen an earlier draft or—?’

‘No. Well, I’d seen a draft of his earlier will, one he made after Valerie died. Up until then, he’d always assumed he’d go first, so he hadn’t bothered with a will.’

‘Why did he show it to you, the earlier will?’

‘Like I said, he’d never made one before. He wanted me to check through, see it all made sense before he sent off the final draft to the solicitor.’

‘And did it all make sense?’

‘Perfect sense. He left everything, including the business, to his only child, Billy.’

‘And how did you know that the provisions of the new will were going to be different?’

The look Frankie gave Carole made her realize it had been a rather stupid question. ‘Because why else would he make a new one? Anyway, Bill said to me when he handed it over, “Must see that Malee’s looked after if I pop my clogs.”’

‘So, you didn’t read the new will?’ asked Jude, taking on the more conciliatory Good Cop role.

‘I didn’t need to. He’d virtually told me, hadn’t he? He was going to disinherit Billy and give the lot to his “Mail Order Bride”!’

Carole was clearly about to reveal the real provisions of the will, but a small flick of the head from Jude dissuaded her. She let her neighbour continue with the questioning.