‘Sure. Help yourself. The surgeon’s made a wonderful job of it – better than at first he thought he could.’

He lowered himself carefully into an armchair and pulled up his trouser leg.

‘May I touch it?’

‘Sure. I shall probably yell, but you mustn’t mind that. It’s very sensitive still.’

‘It must be,’ said Mrs Bradley drily; but her exploratory fingers were gentle beyond belief. ‘Yes, that seems to be going on well,’ she continued. ‘Tricky things, knees. Limber, prayerful, romantic … There is no end to the part they can play in human destiny.’ Tiny looked at her oddly. ‘Who has been looking after your dogs and cats whilst you’ve been in the nursing home?’ she went on. Tiny did not hesitate.

‘Oh, luckily I sent them to homes over Christmas,’ he replied. ‘Knew we were going to be out a good deal, don’t you know. I expect you noticed they weren’t here the night I busted my leg. I’ll have to send for them soon. I’m getting damned lonely without them.’

‘And now,’ said Mrs Bradley, when she and Jonathan had caught up the two women, who were loitering among the trees of Groaning Spinney, ‘for Mrs Dalby Whittier and her handwriting. Jonathan, take your anonymous letter to the police as soon as you’ve had lunch, and get them to compare it with the writing on her identity card.’

‘Do you think they’ve still got her identity card?’

‘Yes, child, I know they have. Whatever the verdict of the coroner’s jury may have been, the police are not lacking in intelligence, and, as we know, they are no more satisfied about Mrs Dalby Whittier’s death than we are. Meanwhile, let us see what we can tabulate.’

‘Right,’ said Jonathan. ‘Where do we begin?’

‘We begin with the unexpected call which Mr Bill Fullalove made here on the night of Christmas Eve. It was unexpected, I take it?’

‘Oh, entirely, and his excuse for coming was a bit dim, actually. It was to check the invitations for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Now, I had made those invitations perfectly clear, I’m sure. There was no need for Bill to come. He had some other object. I was pretty sure of that at the time. However, whatever it was, it wasn’t actually stated. I half-wondered whether he came to look up Obury and Mansell, those pals of his who were here.’

‘It didn’t, of course, occur to you that the cousins might have quarrelled, and that he might have come out to give Tiny a chance to cool off or go to bed before he got home?’ suggested Sally.