‘Whose car are we taking?’ Thea asked. ‘I should pop in and tell the builders I’ll be out. And I need to get my phone. What else? Money, I suppose.’

‘We’ll go in mine,’ said Clovis firmly. ‘It’s up at the village hall.’

Everything was quickly accomplished, and they set off down a minor road that took them southwards out of Barnsley. Thea found the geography confusing, as they passed through two Ampneys in rapid succession, with a third only half a mile distant. The distraction of the undulating landscape, old stone walls, sudden beauties in the shape of houses, churches and gardens, only muddled her more. ‘I lied,’ said Clovis gaily. ‘It’s Ampney St Peter that’s closest to Poulton. I do tend to get them confused.’

‘Let’s start with the pub. Where did you say that was?’ said Thea.279

‘Ampney Crucis.’

‘Betty’s Grave’s a bit past Poulton,’ said Ben. ‘Do you want to go and see that as well?’

‘After lunch,’ decreed Clovis. ‘If we leave it any later, all the best food will have gone. We could leave the car and walk there and back. It’ll take forty minutes or so.’

‘I won’t walk for forty minutes,’ said Thea mulishly, suspecting that she had lost the thread at some point. ‘And I still don’t really understand who you are, Ben. Are you the young relative that Richard Jackson was talking about on Monday?’

‘Er … probably. There’s Edward as well. We’re connected through my mother.’

‘Lunch!’ said Clovis loudly. ‘We’re almost there now. We can get all the family history out of the way once we’ve ordered some food. Although I was rather hoping we might stick to the subject of the murder.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Ben. ‘I’m with you. Murder, not ancestors. Definitely.’

They settled at an outside table and waited for food to arrive. Clovis effortlessly took the role of Chair, showing no sign of wanting to be alone with Thea. That, she realised, was the source of her bewilderment. He had apparently deliberately recruited this young Ben, after a random encounter in Barnsley’s car park. That also puzzled her. ‘Exactly how did you two find each other?’ she asked.

Between them, the two men delivered an account in which Ben had asked Clovis if he knew which house was the scene of a recent killing. Clovis had laughingly offered to walk him there, since it was his own precise 280destination. ‘Pure luck,’ said Ben, with a small frown. ‘There was absolutely nobody else in sight to ask. I saw him parking his car and coming down the steps into the street, and waited for him.’

‘We swopped names, and that was about all we had time for, before we got to the Corner House. We saw you standing there with that woman, and you know the rest,’ Clovis explained.

‘Hm,’ said Thea, turning to Ben. ‘So why were you so interested, anyway? Had you heard of me before?’

‘What? Haven’t we said all that? I’m always keen to follow murder investigations, because of my studies. And no, I hadn’t heard of you. Why? Should I have?’