Feeling the eyes on her back as she returned down the driveway, she was slow to notice that a car was pulling up beside her and a surprising face was glaring at her from the open driver’s window.

257

Chapter Nineteen

It was Caz Barkley. ‘Here you are,’ she shouted. ‘The builders said you’d come up here, but I’ve driven up and down twice without seeing you.’

Thea frowned. ‘I should have been easy to spot. Why didn’t you phone me?’ She checked that she had her phone in her pocket. ‘Look – I’ve got my mobile, for a change.’

‘Yes, but it’s not switched on, is it?’ The tone was of an exasperated parent. Barkley was a good fifteen years younger than Thea, which made her flinch at the role reversal.

‘Ah,’ she said, with a sigh. ‘So why do you want me?’

‘I’ve been told to watch out for you. Make sure you’re okay. See if you’ve made any useful discoveries.’ Caz stared hard at Thea’s face. ‘But why? Why are you here? Didn’t it occur to you that it might not be safe, if anything that woman told you is true?’

Thea blinked. ‘What’s going to happen? It’s broad daylight. And I don’t see how anyone can see me as a threat. I don’t know anything, do I?’258

Caz sighed. ‘I haven’t got time to explain it to you. Just get in and let’s get out of here.’

‘I’m not stupid, you know,’ Thea insisted. ‘It makes sense to have a better look around. Nobody here’s going to know who I am, are they?’

‘Get in,’ said Barkley again.

Thea got into the car, and Barkley turned it round, driving over an immaculate grass verge in the process. Thea had a question. ‘Just how closely involved are you in this investigation?’

‘I think they call it free-floating. I go where I’m needed. They seem to think there’s not a lot more they can follow up on where your woman is concerned. Until they get a firm identity for her, it’s all pretty much stuck. I haven’t even seen the whole file.’

‘That’s weird, when you’ve got the post-mortem report.’

‘They’d let me see it if I asked. But essentially, we’re leaving most of it to Cirencester. If there’s a link to the pangolins, then we’ll have to work more closely with them. So far, we can’t see that there is. Somebody’s meant to be trying to track down the K. A. W. person. Remember? The initials on the wedding ring?’

‘I remember,’ said Thea. She sighed. ‘Isn’t it obvious that somebody around here does know who she is – was? They didn’t just kill her at random, did they?’ She was musing aloud, going over old ground, not making much sense even to herself.

‘Jessica,’ said Caz sternly. ‘We need to talk about Jessica.’

‘What about her?’259

‘Well, Gladwin thinks you ought to know they’ve got a few concerns about her, up there in Manchester.’

‘Is this about her drinking too much? My sister said the same thing. I don’t know what I can do about it. She’s old enough to be responsible for her own actions.’