‘Of course,’ said Carole, ‘in all of our speculation about the case’ – she now had no problem with using the word – ‘there’s one person we haven’t talked to …’

‘I was thinking just the same.’ Jude took out her mobile. ‘Thinking it to such an extent that I put her number into my phone.’ She pressed a couple of buttons.

‘We are talking about Malee, aren’t we?’

Jude nodded and listened to her phone for a few seconds. ‘Still the answering machine. Still with Bill Shefford’s voice on it.’

‘Still?’ asked Carole. ‘What, you mean you’ve tried Malee’s number before?’

‘A few times.’

Carole couldn’t stop herself from saying, ‘Without telling me?’

She took a note of the number and, after Jude had left, tried calling it herself. She didn’t know why she thought the outcome would be any different. And it wasn’t. She too got the answering machine message from the late Bill Shefford.

But, unlike Jude, she left a message, identifying herself, reminding Malee that she had been at Shefford’s when her husband had died, and asking the widow to call her.

‘Hello, Jude. It’s Jeremiah.’

‘Oh, hi.’ His voice down the phone was pleasantly warming. ‘How’re you doing?’

‘Fine, thank you.’

‘I’m glad you called.’

‘Thank you.’ He didn’t pick up the implication in her words. Never mind, she would bide her time before she asked the questions she wanted to. ‘Let me tell you, Jude, I’m still thinking that setting up my centre for alternative therapies in Fethering is a good idea.’

‘Best of luck with it.’

‘I gather from your tone that you’re no more keen than you were when we last discussed it.’

‘You gather correctly.’

‘Ah, well. When it’s a huge success, written up in medical journals around the world, the go-to destination for A-list addicts, and you come begging on your hands and knees to be allowed space within it, I will be prepared to be generous.’

Jude giggled. ‘In the completely impossible event of that scenario arising, I will still probably not accept your generosity.’

‘It’s a good offer.’

‘Appreciated as such. Anyway, to what do I owe the honour of this call?’

‘Oh, I just gather that you’ve seen Tom Kendrick again.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘I had a call from his mother. Trying to persuade me to have another go at treating him. And she said you’d seen him.’

‘I hope she didn’t imply that I’d changed my mind about whether I could help him.’

‘No. To be fair to her, she didn’t.’

‘And did she persuade you that you could do something for him?’

‘I did say I’d go and meet up with him again, see if I could get anywhere.’

‘But, if you couldn’t the first time …’