‘Which means, of course,’ Frankie continued, ‘that he was a pushover for someone like Malee. It’s very sad, really. I thought she would at least have waited till he died naturally to get his money. But no, she was too greedy.’

Jude couldn’t keep quiet any longer. ‘Do you know for a fact,’ she asked, ‘that Malee was going to inherit everything?’

‘Well, of course she was,’ said Frankie. ‘Otherwise what would have been the point of killing him?’

The argument was totally illogical, but Jude didn’t take issue with it. She just said, ‘Quite often, when older men remarry, they draw up wills which make provisions for their existing family as well as their new wife. And from what you say about Bill’s kindness, that sounds just the kind of thing he might have done.’

‘He might have wanted to do that,’ said Frankie stubbornly. ‘He might have intended to do that. But Malee would’ve persuaded him against the idea. She’d have made sure he named her as his sole beneficiary.’

‘Do you actually know that?’ asked Jude again. ‘Did he tell you what was in his will?’

‘He didn’t have to tell me.’ Logic was clearly not a strong point with Frankie. ‘But I know what I know. And I know Malee killed Bill.’

‘You may remember,’ said Carole, after a brief silence, ‘that I was actually in the garage when he died …’

‘Course I remember,’ said Frankie. ‘Billy was sorting out your wipers, right?’

‘Yes. And I was just wondering … how Malee could have had anything to do with Bill Shefford’s death. I mean, she wasn’t there, was she? She arrived some time after he died.’

‘I know that.’ Frankie’s tone was almost pitying. ‘But she didn’t have to be there when he got killed. In fact, she couldn’t have been, because Billy would have seen if she got up to anything dodgy. Certainly, if she went down into the inspection pit. No, she’d sabotaged the Triumph Tr6 earlier, loosened the gearbox screws so that it came down on Bill as soon as he touched it.’

‘When could she have done that?’ asked Jude.

‘Night before,’ Frankie pronounced with great certainty. ‘She’d got keys to the garage, see? Bill’d given her a set, though why she needed them I don’t know.’

‘It wouldn’t be unusual for a wife to have a set of keys to her husband’s place of work.’

‘You reckon?’ Frankie almost sneered at Jude’s suggestion. ‘I think she made him give them to her, so that she could snoop around. I think she looked through the files on my computer.’

‘Why would she do that?’