‘Yes, that’s it. She wanted to show off, like. I thought it was a lot of daft nonsense. I told her they all ought to find something better to talk about. But she wouldn’t let up. So next time I was in Bain House, I took a chance to have a bit of a nosy about. To see what I could see. Just to find a bit of something to keep Beryl quiet, that’s all.’

‘So you managed to get into the bedrooms?’

‘Yes. Only for a quick look round. To see if she had any dead bodies or mad relatives hidden away in there, you know.’

Grice gave her a tentative smile, but Fry refused to acknowledge the joke.

‘But you said Miss Shepherd didn’t like you going upstairs. How did you get into the bedrooms without her noticing?’

‘I was mending a joint on a pipe in the kitchen, and I told her I had to turn off the water at the stopcock in the bathroom. She didn’t know any better, you see.’

‘Where was Miss Shepherd while you were nosing around in the bedrooms?’

‘She was downstairs, in her sitting room. She went in there to be away from me, I suppose. So I didn’t go in the front bedroom, because I thought she might hear my footsteps.’

‘And did you find anything interesting to tell your sister?’

‘Not really. Well, nothing at all, as a matter of fact. It was boring.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘So I had to make some stuff up.’

‘Hold on – you made things up about Miss Shepherd to tell your sister?’

‘Well, yes. Otherwise she would have kept pestering me. I had to get her off my back.’

‘And no doubt your sister would have spread this false information around her friends in Foxlow?’

‘That was the general idea. I didn’t think there’d be any harm in it. None of the stuff was ever likely to get back to Miss Shepherd herself, because she didn’t talk to anyone in the village. See what I mean? So it was harmless.’

Fry caught her breath. ‘What false information did you make up, Mr Grice?’

‘I can’t remember now.’

‘I can’t believe it was anything too complicated. You don’t have the imagination.’

He glowered at her. ‘I don’t know. It was just what came to mind.’

‘Let me have a guess, then. Did you tell your sister Miss Shepherd had a hidden safe in the house where she kept all her valuables?’

Grice pulled his face. ‘Yes, probably.’

‘Did you tell your sister Miss Shepherd was a retired teacher from Scotland?’

‘Yes, I think so. I couldn’t really tell –’

‘And, Mr Grice, this is very important – did you tell your sister that Rose Shepherd had a friend called Dougie in Glasgow?’

Eric Grice nodded slowly, but said nothing.