It had been a gift to the prosecuting counsel and one they had made the most of, the result being that Daniel Bell had been sent down for a minimum of three years’ hard labour.

It had been that very day when, shaken and at the end of herself, she had passed the ‘For Sale’ sign on a quaint and charming old shop on her way home. It was the prettiness of the building that had first caught her attention, the white-painted bricks and big bay window with a window box full of flowers standing like a rose between two thorns from the austere-looking solicitors on one side and chemist on the other. If nothing else it had taken her mind off the disturbing scene in the courtroom when she had thought Daniel was going to leap out of the dock and fling himself on her. The two policemen either side of him had clearly been of the same opinion because they had pinned his arms and done their best to restrain him, with the three of them wrestling in a very undignified manner on the floor in the end. It had been bedlam, and by the time she had left the court she had been trembling uncontrollably.

She had told Edward and Clarissa about the sweet shop when she had gone to Foreburn for Sunday lunch, along with the visit to the courtroom. They had both been full of enthusiasm about the shop and horrified that she had gone to the court alone. In Edward’s case, excessively so, and he had been angry as well, saying that anything could have happened. She had said she hardly thought so – it was a court, after all, and by its very purpose populated with officials and policemen – but he wouldn’t be coaxed round and lunch that day had been a somewhat stiff affair.

The next evening, however, Edward and Clarissa had picked her up at seven o’clock and the three of them had met the estate agent who was selling the property outside the shop. He had been a small rotund man with a hearty manner and hadn’t been able to hide his surprise at Ruby having such wealthy and influential friends, almost tripping over his own feet as he had shown the three of them round the premises. Apparently the old lady who had owned the shop had moved down south to live with her sister, so it was vacant possession. Always a bonus, he’d said ingratiatingly.