‘Ah,’ he said. And then, as if it wasn’t important, ‘Oh well, she must just have forgotten to pass on the message.’ But Carole got the feeling it might have been important to him.

‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘the reason I wanted to talk to you was to pick your brains about matters car-related.’

‘I might be able to help there. What is it?’

‘You remember telling me that the car that killed Bill Shefford was a Triumph?’

‘Yes. A Tr6.’

‘I wondered how easy it would be to remove the gearbox.’

‘Ah. So what they say is true.’

‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Adrian grinned. ‘I’m discovering there’s lots of gossip in a place like Fethering.’

‘Tell me about it.’

‘Just like Ilkley, in fact.’

‘And what gossip have you heard about me?’ asked Carole defensively.

‘That you and your friend Jude have a bit of a reputation locally as amateur sleuths.’

‘Oh. Well, as you know, most gossip is ill-informed and inaccurate.’

‘Hm.’ He gave her a look of amused scepticism. ‘So, it’s just out of general curiosity that you want to know how easy it is to sabotage the gearbox of a Triumph Tr6?’

‘Yes.’

‘From your well-known fascination with 1970s Triumphs?’

‘Of course.’

Her defiant response made Adrian’s grin spread wider. Carole looked away, or she would have found herself grinning too. Which would have been most unlike her.

‘All right,’ said Adrian. ‘How technical do you want me to be?’

‘As untechnical as possible, please. Pretend you’re talking to someone who knows nothing about cars and has no interest in them.’

‘“Pretend”?’ he echoed, and Carole could suppress her grin no longer. He continued, ‘All right, here we go. There would be slight differences according to the spec of the vehicle but I’m assuming you’re not particularly interested in that.’

‘You assume correctly.’

‘OK. One end of the gearbox is bolted on to the engine with six or maybe eight heavy-duty bolts. If those had all been removed, there’s no way someone in an inspection pit or under the vehicle on a ramp wouldn’t notice. So, I think it’s unlikely that would be the way it was done … if we are acting on the assumption that someone had sabotaged the car.’

‘For the purposes of this exercise, we are.’

‘Right. Now at the other end of the gearbox, which would probably have an overdrive attached, it’s held in place by two heavy-duty bolts, which also go through a rubber plate which acts as a kind of shock-absorber. Removing it under normal circumstances would involve setting up some harness or a small hydraulic lift to take the weight, undoing those two bolts, as well as the ones attaching it to the engine, and lowering the gearbox from the vehicle.