She looked at her notebook and Ramsay thought she wanted to be at work again.

“Do you know Max Laidlaw?” Hunter asked.

“Yes,” she said. “He’s a doctor at the Health Centre. I know his wife. We’re both involved with the women writers workshop.”

“Did you talk to Mrs. Parry about Max or Judy Laidlaw?”

“Only indirectly,” she said. “ She thought her family should have given her more support over the development issue.”

“She wanted them behind the banners trying to stop the builder?” Hunter was sneering, trying to provoke a reaction.

“Something like that.”

“Not very likely, is it?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Probably not. James wants to keep his objectivity. Max might be more sympathetic.”

“What time did you leave Mrs. Parry?”

“I don’t know. About half-past four. She was expecting her family.”

“Did anyone come to the house while you were there?”

“No,” she said. “But as I was on my way into the village someone was coming across the green towards the Tower. When he saw me, he waited until I came out before he went into the churchyard. I was a bit worried. I wondered if I should go back and check that Mrs. Parry was all right, but I thought she was probably able to look after herself.”

“Are you sure he went up to the house?”

“Yes,” she said. “I saw him walk through the churchyard to the little gate into the garden.”

“Who was it?”

“The fat man who was so rude to Mrs. Parry at the meeting.”

Charlie Elliot, Ramsay thought, delivering the letter.

“Did you see him come out again?” Hunter asked.

“Yes,” she said. “ Just as I was getting into my car.”

“Where had you parked your car?”

“By the green outside the church.”

Hunter paused, drank tea. “ Did you walk through the churchyard to get to your car?”

“No,” she said. “I didn’t like to wander through Mrs. Parry’s garden. I went down the drive.”

“Did you go into the churchyard later that evening?”

“No,” she said. “ It looked very interesting, but I didn’t go in.”

You’re lying, Ramsay thought. But why? Hunter was continuing with his questions.

“When did you leave Brinkbonnie?”

“As soon as I got to my car,” she said.

“Are you sure?”

She hesitated just for a moment. “Yes,” she said. “What reason could I have for staying?”

Ramsay’s head was full of questions, none of which was possible to ask her. If she was the woman in the churchyard, where had she left her car? No-one had seen any strange car on the green that night. And what on earth had she been doing there? Was there an angle on the planning story she was reluctant to talk about before her article was finished? Or was the reason more personal? He spoke for the first time since the interview had started and his soft voice surprised her.