“Thank you,” Ramsay said. “ There are a few questions …” Through the door he had a glimpse of a warm, untidy house and he wondered how he could have found the Laidlaws so unappealing at the Tower. The cottage in Heppleburn was empty and uninviting in contrast. He was in no hurry to return home.

They walked down the stairs from the brightly lit hall and the kitchen seemed dark and gloomy.

“Let’s have a bit more light in here,” Max said, and switched on the central electric light. The muddle and dust were illuminated and the sense of intimacy was lost. Even Judy looked different. He could see the dark rings under her eyes and the sharp nose and pinched chin. The chestnut curls looked matted and untidy. He stood behind her with his arm on her shoulder, aware that they looked to Ramsay like a perfect, happily married couple.

“I came to talk to your son,” Ramsay said, “but your husband says he’s asleep.”

“Yes,” she said. “We don’t have to wake him, do we?”

“No,” Ramsay said. “ It’ll do another day.”

He sat on the sofa, still wearing his overcoat, to show them that he did not intend to take up too much of their time. He was jealous of their companionship, their home, their children. If he sensed any tension between them, he put it down to the shock of their aunt’s death.

“We’ve discovered that Mrs. Parry returned to the Tower at about midnight,” Ramsay said. He turned towards Max. “You were the last person to go to bed. Were you still up at midnight?”

Max seemed uncertain and confused. “Yes,” he said. “I think so. I told you I was watching the television.”

“But you didn’t hear Mrs. Parry come into the house?”

“No,” he said. “ I suppose she might have come in through the kitchen. I wouldn’t have seen her then.”

That was possible, Ramsay thought. If Alice Parry came back into the house after her meeting with Henshaw, she might have wanted to avoid the family. Especially if she was upset. But what had so distressed her about the meeting with Henshaw, a meeting he had described as a friendly discussion?

“She went to the pub on her way back from the Henshaws’,” Ramsay said. “ Did she go there regularly?”

“Almost every night,” Max said. “She claimed she had to go to catch up with the village gossip, but I think she liked the company. She never had a lot to drink.”

“A young woman was seen in the churchyard on the night of your aunt’s death,” Ramsay said. “ Have you any idea who that might have been?”

“No,” Max said. “ I can’t imagine.” He looked at Judy. “ What about you, love? Did you see anyone?”