‘She was frosty towards me to start with,’ Rosie remembered. ‘And she certainly didn’t like my kids, but she softened up over time, in fact, she was quite chirpy before she took off.’

Sybil looked thoughtful. ‘Don’t you think that’s significant?’

‘What?’ Rosie puzzled.

‘That something made her smile more than she previously had,’ Sybil suggested.

‘Well, I wouldn’t say she was running for the hills and jumping for joy – she just wasn’t quite as grumpy,’ Rosie recalled. ‘But she didn’t look like she did when she first arrived here; in those days her face was permanently set like concrete.’

‘I know – she tried to befriend me,’ Sybil said.

‘And you, Mrs Snooty Pants, was having none of it,’ Rosie teased.

‘I couldn’t stand her,’ Sybil confessed. ‘All her affected airs and graces.’

‘There were a lot of folks you couldn’t stand in them early days,’ Rosie ruthlessly reminded her friend.

‘I know, I know,’ Sybil said, as she threw her arms up in the air in total defeat. ‘I was a snobby cow, that’s what your cheeky Ronnie used to call me.’

Both women couldn’t help but giggle at the memory. After getting her breath back, Rosie continued, ‘Do you think I should mention the change I saw in Sister Mann’s manner recently to the police when they come?’

‘Why not if it’s true?’ Sybil reasoned. ‘I hope the police won’t detain us here for too long – don’t forget we’re leaving for London in a few days.’

Rosie grinned. ‘Fingers crossed we can stick to our plan and travel down together,’ she replied with a gleam in her eye.

After questioning all of the staff, and some of the residents, Rosie included, the police assured Matron they would do everything they could to help clarify why Edith had fled Mary Vale so suddenly and in seemingly mysterious circumstances.

‘Was she unhappy here?’ the sergeant in charge asked.

‘I wouldn’t say she was terribly happy,’ Matron answered honestly. ‘But she was a good and conscientious midwife.’

‘Did she have any arguments with the staff?’ he continued.

‘Not that I know of – we’re always keen to create a harmonious atmosphere in the Home; it makes life easier for the residents too.’

‘Did Miss Mann have friends here?’

‘She was a woman who kept herself very much to herself,’ Matron told the sergeant.

‘Family?’ he asked.

Matron shook her head in confusion. ‘She never mentioned family.’

Moving rhythmically from his toes to his heels, the portly sergeant pondered the problem. ‘We don’t know where she’s gone and she’s made sure we don’t know where she’s hailed from – bit of a coincidence, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Aye, sir,’ his eager companion agreed. ‘Too much of a coincidence.’

‘You say you have the address of her former place of employment?’