‘So, what do you reckon now, Frankie?’ asked Jude. ‘When we met in the Crown and Anchor with Barney Poulton, you were pretty convinced that Malee set up Bill’s death. Is that what you still think?’

‘What else is there to think?’ But her tone had lost its former conviction. Maybe, with the passage of time, the exact circumstances of her boss’s death had become less important. She was coming to terms with a world in which he was no longer a participant.

‘You two’re trying to find out, aren’t you?’ she went on. ‘What happened?’

Carole, on her own, might have denied it, but Jude nodded.

‘Why?’ asked Frankie, very directly.

It was a good question. ‘I guess we’re just intrigued,’ said Jude. But that wasn’t enough. ‘And also, I don’t like hurtful rumours going round the village.’

‘Hm.’ Frankie was silent for a moment, making a decision. Then she said, ‘I want to know what really happened with Bill, too. I’ve got something here that might help you. It’s full of stuff I know about. And some I don’t understand.’

She had clearly prepared for what she was about to do. She reached down in a purple bucket bag beside her chair, pulled something out and offered it to them.

It was a battered green diary.

‘Do you think there was love involved?’ asked Carole, as they walked back towards the High Street. Jude was better at observing that kind of thing than she was.

‘Oh yes. Definitely,’ came the reply.

‘So, Frankie loved Bill Shefford,’ said Carole.

‘No,’ said Jude. ‘She loves Billy.’

TWENTY-ONE

Frankie had allowed them to borrow the diary, in the hope that they might be able to make sense of the bits she didn’t understand. Carole and Jude were very excited. They had talked to a lot of people about the case but couldn’t wait to get stuck into the first potentially solid piece of evidence they’d found. Because Carole had got a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in her fridge and Jude’s supply was still sitting in her shopping bag on the kitchen table at Woodside Cottage, they decided they would inspect their trophy at High Tor.

Gulliver greeted them blearily from in front of the Aga with a growly cough. Carole asked Jude to sort out the wine while she dealt with the flashing red light on the answering machine.

The message was from Malee Shefford. Had Carole managed to communicate to Billy and Shannon the provisions of Bill’s revised will?