Caz shook her head reprovingly. ‘Don’t start thinking like that. You know you’re going to have to go through every moment from when you met her on Saturday to when you called 999 yesterday. You are technically a 113person of interest, obviously. The only one, come to that. We’re checking her teeth, clothes, DNA – anything that can identify her – but you’re the only one who saw her alive.’

‘I realise that,’ sighed Thea. ‘So – are we doing that now? Here?’

‘Of course not. It’ll all be done formally in the interview room in Cirencester. I shouldn’t be talking to you now, actually. You probably figured that out already. I’m nothing to do with this investigation. I’ve got no reason to be here, and if you quote anything I’m telling you, I’ll be in serious doo-doo.’ She grimaced. ‘I’m not too pleased about it, to tell you the truth, but Gladwin says we can trust you, and we owe it to you to make it as easy as we can, after she got you to come here in the first place. But there’s a limit to what we can do. All I’m saying is you’d better have a really good think about everything the woman said to you. Any tiny clue about her background, why she was here, who she might know in the area – the sooner we’ve got an identity for her, the better sense we might make of her death.’

‘So, I’ve only got myself to rely on to get me out of this mess,’ Thea summarised, feeling suddenly unafraid. If anything, there was a sliver of exhilaration somewhere inside her. Another murder mystery to pass the time was shamefully welcome. ‘It’s almost as good as an old-fashioned locked-room puzzle, isn’t it? Except the doors weren’t actually locked,’ she added. ‘I do feel bad about that. If I’d behaved like a responsible house-sitter, the poor woman would still 114be alive. Maybe I should be charged as an accessory – if only an unwitting one.’

Barkley gave her a severe look. ‘Don’t go trying to make things worse than they already are. You’re not like most people, Mrs Slocombe. On the one hand, you wander off, leaving the house completely insecure, and on the other, you invite a totally strange woman in and give her a bed for the night.’

‘Most people would think both those things were criminally careless. And I didn’t give her a bed – just a room, and some cushions on the floor.’

‘Better than a ditch,’ said Barkley.

‘Marginally.’ Thea agreed. ‘But I know Drew for one is going to say I brought all this on myself. I told him most of it last night, and he was fairly unimpressed. Didn’t seem to want to talk about it, which I assume means he’s cross with me.’

‘Superintendent Gladwin said he was a bit short with her, as well. Can’t expect him to be happy, I guess. How long have you two been married – not long, I gather?’