As Angus and Nell were driving home, they discussed the situation, but it was hard to fight a battle with an enemy whose weapons were so nebulous.

‘I’m disappointed in Olliphant, though,’ he said. ‘He used to be known as a fighter for the underdog.’

‘He’s getting old and probably feels less able to protect himself. From what I’ve been told by other older people, that can hit hard. There used to be some lovely oldies living in our street, and I don’t think Australia is that different from England. One of them grew rather frail and was treated shamefully by her relatives, who shoved her in the cheapest care home they could find and waited to collect their inheritance. She obliged them by pining away quickly. Another had the most wonderful daughter who came to live with her when her memory began to fail and cared for her devotedly till the end. People can be amazingly kind as well as horrible.’

‘Well, we both know which type Dorling is.’ Angus smiled as he added, ‘And I know which type you are, darling, the absolute opposite to him. I love being in a relationship with you.’

She treasured those words as she started work on another house in Saffron Lane. Her first husband had never said anything half as nice, not even in the early days when she’d been blind to his faults.

That afternoon, Nell was doing paperwork in the library when the old-fashioned phone rang. She debated not answering it, but in the end she picked it up. If it was that idiot from the council, she’d put the phone down again without speaking. She hadn’t the patience to deal with him today.

It wasn’t Hobkins, though. Without waiting for her to speak, a husky disguised voice warned her not to block business initiatives in the town if she valued her own safety.

Her Aussie bluntness surged up in a tide of anger. ‘And I’m warning you in return, you stupid galah, that I took an excellent self-defence course and can guarantee to give anyone trying to attack me a nasty surprise. So sod off and be careful who you threaten next time. I always fight back tooth and nail against bullying.’

The phone was disconnected, but not before she’d heard a gasp of what sounded like surprise at the other end. The voice had sounded very tinny, perhaps a cheap pay-as-you-go mobile phone. Who knew? She’d tell Angus about it later.

‘Tell him now,’ a voice seemed to say in her ear. ‘He’s in danger too.’

Was that one of the family ghosts?

She hesitated, then did as the ancestor suggested. She needed to stretch her legs anyway and could take Angus a snack while she was at it.

She called out as she entered Number 4 and Angus yelled, ‘In the front bedroom.’

She dumped her food on the kitchen windowsill for lack of anywhere else. The new kitchen units weren’t being fitted until the next few days.