‘And you’d know?’ Her sister forced a smile.

‘Fair point.’ She glanced up at the sky. ‘Think we should turn back,’ she said. ‘Looks like rain.’

They began walking back to the cottage, Benjy at their heels.

‘How was the wedding?’ Jude asked.

‘Tom’s?’

‘Yes. Oh Clare, you didn’t duck out of it, did you? Mum said you might.’

‘No, I went and I even smiled and said how lovely the bride looked.’

‘Did she?’

Clare inclined her head. ‘Yeah, she did. She was so… so golden and perfect.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘So perfect I wanted to tip a bowl of trifle over her head.’

Clare was glad to see her sister laugh at this.

‘At least there was trifle.’

‘Actually, there wasn’t. Dessert was – some tiny crap. Mini-desserts, you know? Three tiny things I wolfed in a mouthful each. Al was so hungry we considered ordering from room service.’

‘You should have.’

‘We would have done, but there was this murder, you see – kind of got in the way.’

Day 5: Wednesday

Chapter 22

Clare was glad to see her sister looking brighter over breakfast. They sat cradling mugs of coffee while the rain drummed against the kitchen window.

‘I slept like a top,’ Jude admitted. ‘First time for weeks.’ She smiled. ‘I suppose it was the relief of telling someone.’

Clare lifted the cafetiere and topped up her sister’s mug. ‘And now?’

‘I know,’ Jude said. ‘Now I have to go home and tell Frank.’

There was a click from the toaster and Clare rose to retrieve the toast. ‘And you’re really okay about it?’

Jude nodded. ‘Yes, I am. I think talking it through, facing my worst fears, I think it helped.’ She grabbed Clare’s hand across the table and gave it a squeeze. ‘Thanks, Clare.’

Clare squeezed her hand back. ‘Anytime.’ She pushed the butter towards her sister. ‘I need to go soon. But stay as long as you like. Just pop the spare key in the box outside.’

‘I’ve been looking into Russell Fox,’ Chris said, as he followed Clare to the station kitchen.

‘And?’ She stooped to put her lunch in the fridge.

‘Seems the restaurants were doing well. He stood to make a tidy sum from the sale. Plenty of interest, talk of a few offers, just verbal at the moment. But looks like he’d have had no problem selling.’

‘And the sister takes the lot.’

‘Yep.’

‘Hm,’ Clare said. ‘Maybe we need to look into her. And her husband.’

‘I don’t see why,’ Chris said. ‘She’s worth a hell of a lot more than Russell was.’

‘All the same, I think I’ll ask Tony for a warrant to investigate their finances. It’s such a high-profile case. I can’t risk missing something.’

‘Speaking of our DCI,’ Chris said, ‘he’s at it again, you know?’

‘At what?’ Clare headed for the incident room, Chris in her wake.