In spite of herself, Thea had to ask, ‘Ready Token? You can’t be serious.’

‘Honestly. We can go back that way, and you’ll see for yourself.’

They trooped up the quiet road to the church, glimpsing the tower ahead. Clovis continued with his history lesson. ‘The cross in the churchyard is extremely ancient. Fifteenth century at least. The church is called The Holy Rood, because of it.’

They let him prattle on, until they were standing around the object itself, which did indeed look old. A long slender stone stem supported a four-sided carving with religious images in remarkably good condition on all sides. ‘Nice,’ said Thea, before gazing all round at 290the graves. ‘Plenty of space for more,’ she remarked.

‘My great-granddad is over here,’ said Ben. ‘He died aged thirty-three in eighteen ninety-seven, leaving a wife and a lot of kids. I’ve got a very complicated family,’ he announced proudly. ‘So complicated that there’s a whole farm that’s been standing empty since the late 1990s not far from here because nobody can decide who should inherit it. The trouble is, there were no obvious claimants amongst my mother’s relations – I mean they all seem to have an equally valid claim. It’s bonkers, basically.’

Thea was reminded of the empty house she’d seen at Bibury. ‘Surely they can rent out the fields?’ she queried. ‘Won’t it all get overrun with thistles and brambles otherwise?’

‘Maybe,’ Ben shrugged. ‘I just know they’ve been spending big money on legal fees for umpteen years, and not getting anywhere.’

‘Your grandfather must have been pretty old when your mother was born,’ said Thea, having performed one of her habitual calculations. ‘If he was born in the nineteenth century. Which he must have been if his father died in 1897.’

He gave her an approving look. ‘Right. My mother was born in nineteen fifty-five, when he was sixty. Not so unusual, really. But don’t ask me to give you a full family tree. I can only do it if I’ve got something to write it all down on, and then I always forget about eight of them. Everybody two generations back had at least five children, and then they all seemed to run out of steam, 291apart from my mother. I’m the only one who comes from a big family now.’

They roamed amongst the graves until Ben called, ‘Here he is! Look – Samuel Thomas Wheelwright. You can only just read it. My mum was right – the stone needs straightening. Another year or two and it’ll fall over completely.’

‘Wheelwright,’ Thea repeated slowly. ‘I’ve seen that name just recently.’ Before she could snag the exact memory, her phone began to jingle in her bag. ‘Sounds as if I left it on for once,’ she said, as she fished it out. ‘Oh – it’s my sister.’

It transpired that Jocelyn was calling to check that Thea had contacted Jessica, and to ask whether she’d seen any more of the delectable Clovis. ‘Can’t talk to you now,’ said Thea firmly. ‘I’m standing in a churchyard, with two other people. It’s all a bit busy. Jessica sounded fine when I spoke to her. I’ll be seeing her in a few weeks anyway. I’ll keep you posted … yes, Joss, I know. Thanks, but it’s not necessary. I’m going, okay?’ And she firmly terminated the call before the name of Clovis could be uttered again. Irrationally, she feared that he would hear it and want to know what was being said.