‘We need to know whose car brought her back here from Manchester,’ said Ben, tapping his notebook with a finger.

‘That’s an easy one,’ said Caz. ‘Edward Jackson’s vehicle was caught on the CCTV camera at the business park on Saturday morning. But of course he was dismissed as a local who had property there, so nothing was made of it. We can check cameras between here and Manchester to confirm it was the same car that brought her here.’

‘Norma says she saw Richard leaving this house on Sunday,’ Thea reminded them.

‘But Norma was lying,’ said Ben, on a sudden thought. ‘Because Richard’s wife told me this afternoon that he spent most of Sunday morning at the A&E in Cirencester, after twisting his knee. He fell down some steps in their garden and landed awkwardly. I’ve only 341just remembered – she talks so much, you tune her out after a bit. But you can check that, can’t you?’

‘We can check everything,’ said Caz, slightly uncertainly. ‘But if that’s where he was, why didn’t he say so earlier, when Norma claimed to have seen him?’

‘He did say she was lying. I think he’s the sort of man who doesn’t see any need to explain himself. He thinks his probity is self-evident,’ said Thea. ‘He knows he’d never kill anyone, and he assumes everybody else knows that as well.’

‘Norma stands to lose most of all,’ said Grace. ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Norma Chadwick passionately wants that farm. And Karen just laughed at her. I guess you could say that’s the person she really hurt.’

Caz then revealed that there had been two uniformed officers from Cirencester sitting in a car outside the Chadwick house for the past hour. It took no time at all to walk over to them, request them to follow her into the house, and arrest Norma as being wanted for questioning. Thea stood in the gateway of the Corner House, and watched as the woman from across the road was slotted onto the back seat of the vehicle. Richard Jackson stood and watched them go. Thea couldn’t tell whether he’d seen her, along with Ben and Grace, who were in the driveway, talking quietly. So she called out softly, ‘Hello! Would you like to come over for a drink?’

He glared at her. In the fading light his expression was hard to read, but she thought it looked every bit as angry as before, ‘I do not, thank you very much,’ he snarled.342

Ben was suddenly at her side. ‘He blames you,’ he said quietly. ‘You made it so easy for them to kill poor Karen, didn’t you?’

She was still trying to complete the picture, filling in gaps and stumbling over loose ends and puzzling questions. ‘Them?’ she repeated.

Ben raised his voice. ‘Edward and Norma did it together, didn’t they? She must have seen you and Karen going into the house on Saturday afternoon, and felt that fate had lent a hand. There was her hated rival, served up on a plate.’