‘No.’ Jude sounded almost testy. ‘I wouldn’t do that.’ She hadn’t the energy to go through the arguments again with Carole about her attitudes to healing. ‘I’ll find a way to contact him. And I’d better do it before the weekend.’

‘Oh?’

‘I’m going up to Leeds on Friday morning.’

Carole would rather have pretended not to be interested, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking, ‘What for?’

‘A conference.’

‘And what’s it called?’ asked Carole with exaggerated patience.

‘“Healing Is in the Head”,’ Jude admitted.

No words could have been as expressive as Carole’s snort of derision. It was exactly the reaction Jude had imagined when she mentioned the conference to Jeremiah. Then, from Carole, ‘You’re not speaking at it, are you?’

‘No. A couple of my friends are.’

‘Oh?’

‘Karen and Chrissie. Their subject is: “Healing in the LGBT Community”.’

‘Oh, my goodness. Does that mean they’re …?’

‘A lesbian couple, yes.’

‘Oh.’

Jude giggled. ‘Just like a lot of people in Fethering think we are.’

Carole’s face was a study in unamusement.

THIRTEEN

‘He’s upstairs. I’ll get him.’

As the line went quiet, Jude wondered whether Natalie Kendrick always answered the phone when it rang in Troubadours. Was she acting as some kind of gatekeeper for Tom? Then she rationalized that he probably had a mobile on which he conducted all his personal calls. But she was still intrigued by who held the power in that particular mother/son relationship.

She hadn’t completely prepared the approach she would take when he came on the phone. She certainly wouldn’t pretend her call had anything to do with healing, as Carole had suggested. When it came to her work, Jude had a strict code of ethics. Healing was not to be messed with.

‘Hi,’ Tom said languorously. ‘Changed your mind, have you? Think you can heal my non-existent ailment?’

‘No.’ She decided, as she often did, that the truth might be as good an approach as any other. ‘I wanted to talk to you about what happened with your car.’

‘Ah. The Triumph Tr6. Or, as it is better known currently around Fethering, “The Murder Weapon”.’

‘That’s the one.’

‘And why do you want to talk to me about it? Presumably because of that? Because of its role in Bill Shefford’s death?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, at least you’re honest.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I mean lots of the Fethering gossips are muttering behind their hands about me. At least you’re coming straight out and saying that you think I had something to do with topping the poor bugger.’

‘I’m not saying that.’

‘No? Then why do you want to talk to me about it?’

‘Straightforward curiosity. A desire to find out what actually happened.’

‘Honest again. But give me one good reason why I should talk to you?’