‘How many of you will be here?’ He couldn’t understand how she could bear to spend Christmas Day with these demanding clients. Didn’t she have family of her own? When would she escape?

‘Laurie, Susan and me. And I’ve invited a couple of friends from town. We’ve got lots of space, so they can stay the night. I’m looking forward to it.’ Jane gave an easy smile. ‘No men to get in the way or make demands.’

‘Father Gruskin won’t be here?’

‘Good God, no.’ She seemed horrified by the idea. ‘The old ladies from St Bart’s will be fighting to cook him lunch. We’re planning a proper party.’

‘What do you want?’ Laurie looked at him. ‘If you need to talk to me, be quick, because I want to take the dog for a walk before we go into town.’

‘No,’ he said. He was surprised, but also faintly amused that she was so bossy. An offender had never spoken to him like that before. ‘I don’t need to talk to you.’

Laurie stood up and left. He heard her speak to someone in the hall and a dog barked, and then Susan Coulson walked into the kitchen. She was dressed in the sort of shapeless trousers that Vera wore on a bad day, with a baggy jersey across her swollen belly. Her grey hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was yawning as if she’d just stumbled out of bed. He wasn’t sure that she’d recognize him, but she nodded as she put on the kettle for tea. He thought she seemed more composed than she had on their previous meeting.

‘There’s been a development,’ he said. ‘A possibility that Margaret’s murder was linked to the way she lived a long time ago. I was hoping that Susan might help me.’ He looked at the woman. ‘Because you knew Margaret then, didn’t you? You both had bedsits in Harbour Street?’

She looked at Jane first, as if she needed her permission to answer, and then she nodded. No words. She squeezed the teabag in her mug, threw it into the bin and sat at the table.

‘I wondered if you’d like to go back to Harbour Street,’ he said. ‘See the house as it is now.’

Still silence. Through the window he saw Laurie in boots and jacket walking with the dog across the grass. Their feet left scuffmarks in the frost. The sun was burning off the mist.

‘Would you like me to come with you?’ It was Jane, talking directly to the older woman. ‘Laurie and I can go shopping later.’