“It’s Louis,” Rose said. She began to cry. “They’ve taken him into custody.”

“Have they charged him?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t know.”

“What happened?”

Then Rose began to talk, the words spilling out in random phrases. It was part of a declaration of love, part an explanation of her fear, and only when Molly prompted her, did it become a detailed account of what had happened that evening.

“I didn’t realise,” she said, “ how much I cared for him. I mean, I fancied him right from the beginning, from the moment he moved into the cottage and I saw him down there, working on the Jessie Ellen, getting her ready for the sea. I mean, I knew then that I wanted to have his baby. But that was all. I didn’t want to get involved. I’d been hurt before. Only safe, unfanciable men like Gerald Matthews for me, I thought. I told Louis that. No involvement, I said, I can’t handle involvement. He told me he’d been to prison. I wasn’t surprised. I mean, there were so many rumours in Heanor about him, I’d have been ready to believe anything. Now look at me. I’m as involved as hell.”

“What has happened?” Molly asked again. “Where have you been?”

“Down to the cottage, of course,” Rose said. “ I heard the cars go down some time ago. I thought it was the police bringing Louis home. But you should see what they’re doing there! They’re going through the cottage searching his things. They think he killed Greg Franks. I came back here and phoned the police station. They told me they were keeping Louis in custody overnight.”

She began to cry. Molly could tell that the hours of waiting for Louis to return to Porthkennan had been a terrible strain.

“You must do something,” she said. “Louis didn’t kill Greg. He had no reason to. You can help us. I know about you and George. Everyone who comes to stay talks about the Tom French murder. Please get Louis home for me.”

Molly waited until the tears and hysteria had subsided.

“Rose,” she said. “ Was Greg Franks blackmailing Louis about his criminal record?”

“No,” Rose said. “That’s why I’m so certain Louis didn’t kill him. Greg Franks was blackmailing me.”

“Why?”

“He had found out somehow who was Matilda’s father,” Rose said. “ He said he would tell the birding world I was screwing a convicted killer. ‘Who would want to stay in Myrtle Cottage then?’ he said. And ‘Who would trust Rosco to take them out in a boat?’”

“How did he know Louis had been convicted of manslaughter?”

“He met him in Bristol in some hostel.”

“Are you sure he didn’t approach Louis for money, too?”