The full story was not told in detail until Jane Pym’s inquest, and then little of the background came out in court. The real inquest took place in the evening. Claire Bingham surprisingly had offered to put George and Molly up for the night. She knew George would be a witness at the hearing, and it would be a pleasure, she said, to have them to stay.

She greeted them at the door of her smart new house like old friends. Molly was afraid she might have bored her husband by talking about them. Certainly Claire seemed very pleased to have them there and had made a great effort to entertain them well. She had dressed in an obviously expensive outfit, but Molly in her second-hand Oxfam dress felt more at ease. They sat behind the large plate glass window and looked down at the harbour, where the lights were beginning to come on and were reflected in the water. There was still evidence of the day of the storm—makeshift repairs to the harbour wall and the lifeboat station in ruins—but on a calm evening the destruction was almost decorative. Claire brought them large drinks and in a brittle, rather self-conscious way talked about her husband’s work and the antics of the baby. Berry, who had been invited for a meal, arrived late and then sat quietly in a corner watching her with sympathy and some concern.

It was only later, when they were eating, that Claire told them she had decided to leave the police force. It would never work, she said. She was not suited to it. Molly, with an honesty and persistence which was the result of alcohol and which she would regret in the morning, told her she was a fool. The police force needed women like Claire, she said. How could she allow herself to be beaten by a bunch of ignorant men? By then Molly had drunk more wine than she was used to and became heated and emotional. It was a cop-out, she said. A terrible cop-out. But Claire was not to be persuaded.

Berry sipped mineral water and watched his boss sadly. Richard, the husband, was more sympathetic than Molly had expected. He had not wanted Claire to leave the police, he said in a quiet aside when Molly at last stopped ranting about women’s masochistic self-denial. He felt rather guilty about it. He knew he should have given her more support. But she was quite determined, and nothing he could say would make her change her mind. He was not sure how they could manage with only one income.

When they finished the meal, they took coffee back to the living room, and then the real reason for the invitation was clear.

“I want to know exactly what happened on the Jessie Ellen,” Claire Bingham said. “And how you knew Jane Pym murdered Greg Franks. You never really explained.”