‘Oh, I have actually had a call from him. We’re meeting up next week. Did he say why he wanted to contact me?’

‘I didn’t really get the details. There were a lot of customers in. But I gathered he wants to set up some clinic here in Fethering, bringing together lots of alternative therapists.’

‘I thought it might be something like that. I’m not sure whether that kind of thing would work here.’

There was no surprise that Carole should say, very frostily, ‘Nor am I.’

‘Well …’ Ted shrugged. ‘When you meet the amazing Jeremiah, Jude, that’s what it’ll be about. And, incidentally, I wanted to ask—’

But they didn’t find out what he wanted to ask, because at that moment the main door of the pub clattered open to admit a man wearing a yellow oilskin over a fuzzy jumper. Barney Poulton, a self-appointed Sage of Fethering, enjoyed propping up the bar of the Crown and Anchor, pontificating on everything and, generally, being one of the banes of Ted Crisp’s life.

‘Well,’ he announced as he entered, ‘I hear there’s been a murder up at Shefford’s Garage.’

And, once again, the Fethering rumour-mill was set in motion.

EIGHT

‘I’m no mechanic,’ Rhona Hampton declared, ‘but I know gearboxes don’t detach themselves from the bottom of cars for no reason.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Jude, preparing herself for more criticism of the old woman’s son-in-law.

‘What I mean is that the gearbox must have been fitted with some system of screws or whatever, and the only way of removing it would be by loosening those screws.’

‘I agree. And Bill must’ve been doing just that – loosening the screws – when the gearbox fell on him.’

‘You say Bill must’ve been loosening the screws.’

‘Yes, well, he was the one who was working on the car, wasn’t he? He told my neighbour Carole, who was actually at Shefford’s when the accident happened – he told her he was going to “remove a gearbox”. Which is what he was doing when the thing fell on him.’

‘Hm.’ Rhona Hampton wheezed. Shortness of breath was becoming an increasing problem for her. ‘Bill’s been working on cars for over forty years.’

‘So?’

‘So … he wouldn’t have to think twice about how to remove a gearbox …’

Jude knew full well the direction in which this conversation was going, but she didn’t want to say anything that would encourage the old woman’s speculations.

‘He’s not going to make a mistake like that,’ Rhona went on. ‘You say he was loosening the screws. Suppose someone else did the job for him …?’