‘He’s my cousin,’ shrilled Norma. ‘I wasn’t going to betray him if I didn’t have to, was I?’

Thea’s voice gained in confidence. ‘But I don’t think it was him you saw, was it? I think it was much more likely to have been his brother Edward. He’s the elder of the two, after all. Wouldn’t he have a better claim to the inheritance?’

‘Shut up. You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘And who moved the ashes from the barn?’ Thea threw in, almost at random. The frustration and 335embarrassment of the afternoon still remained with her. ‘The ashes of the woman who started this whole business, as far as I can see.’

‘Thea.’ Caz Barkley spoke with unmistakeable authority. ‘Back off, will you? You’re not helping.’

‘She could be right, though,’ said Ben slowly. ‘Edward might have a stronger motive.’

Richard’s face grew redder than ever, but he remained silent. There were too many people, Thea realised. It was sure to turn into a chaotic mess at any moment, unless somebody made a decisive move. She hadn’t expected it to be Grace Berensen.

‘Karen went to Manchester last week,’ she said. ‘She had a letter from those solicitors, asking her to go and see them. She told me she wasn’t sure when she’d get home, because there might be reasons why she’d stay there over the weekend.’

‘Didn’t you wonder why she hadn’t phoned you? What did you think she was doing all this time?’

‘I thought she must be working on her case. We don’t live in each other’s pockets,’ she said. ‘I was working all weekend, anyway. I had a bit of a crisis of my own, as it happens.’

She hadn’t noticed herself still using the present tense about her partner, Thea observed. The reality still hadn’t sunk in very far.

‘But she believed she’d got a strong claim to the family property?’

Grace nodded. ‘Her father was Gwen’s favourite. He was always good to her. She knew it was going to be a 336hard battle, but she was confident she’d win eventually.’

‘All very stupid,’ grated Richard. ‘By the time the solicitors took their fees, as well as courts and barristers and all the rest of it, the value of the farm would be eaten up, anyway.’ He spoke to Ben. ‘Which is why I decided not to take it any further. Those emails you saw were out of date, laddie.’

A squeal from Norma alerted everyone to the inevitable descent into something much less civilised. ‘Liar!’ she accused. ‘Bloody rotten liar.’

Barkley acted quickly. ‘All right. That’s enough. Thea, please come with me. And Ms Berensen. As for the rest of you, there will have to be formal interviews to get to the bottom of all this. There will be a team of officers from Cirencester shortly on their way. Please ensure that you all make yourselves available for questioning. I suggest you go indoors and sit down. It’s getting chilly out here.’