But she did have a car. And there was still some daylight to enjoy. She could go out, if she decided that that was what she wanted to do, and drive anywhere she liked. At that point, her imagination failed her. She disliked eating alone in a public place. There would be no shops open, other than supermarkets. She didn’t have anybody she could visit.

‘Arrghh!’ she moaned aloud. Everything had turned sour, and it was all her own stupid fault.

Then her phone jingled, and she answered it on the assumption that it would be Drew, relenting from his uncharacteristic chilliness. The fact that the screen announced ‘Caller Unknown’ did not register, in her haste to respond.154

‘Thea? I’m really sorry if I’m intruding, and I hope I didn’t startle you by trying to find you today. I expect your builders told you I’d been? I was hoping to talk to you in person, but you’re rather elusive.’

‘Clovis Biddulph,’ she said faintly. ‘How on earth did you manage to find me?’

155

Chapter Twelve

‘I had to turn detective. There was an item on the news about a suspicious death in Barnsley, and a brief mention of a house-sitter. I guessed that might possibly be you, so I tracked down the house and asked the builders if a Mrs Slocombe was staying there. Simple, really.’

‘But my phone number?’

‘That was a bit more tricky. But everything’s out there somewhere, and you might remember you placed an ad for your services as a house-sitter on a Cotswolds website, about three years ago, with mobile number? Well, it’s still there.’

‘Good God! That must have taken you ages.’

‘No, not really. I’ve got quite good at that sort of thing lately. And, of course, I could simply have phoned your husband and asked where you were, but I figured that might be a bit undiplomatic.’

‘Seems to me the whole Internet is a stalker’s charter,’ she said daftly, not really meaning to accuse him of any such thing.156

He seemed unwounded by the implication. ‘You needn’t worry. I just wanted to pick your brains about something. It’s all quite innocent, I promise you. But I thought I should phone before coming to the house again. I honestly don’t want to alarm you.’

His voice was soothing and yet arousing. His words were reassuring and yet her heart was pounding with panic. ‘Can’t you ask me whatever it is over the phone?’ she said.

‘Well, no, not really.’

‘Is it something to do with your father’s grave? Or what?’

‘No, no. It’s nothing much, really. I just want to make use of your obvious talents.’

She had a strong sense of drowning; of being swept out to sea by forces too powerful to resist. ‘I don’t know,’ she said weakly. ‘It sounds as if you might need a counsellor or something. It must have been traumatic for all of you with your father dying as he did, but it’s way beyond my job description to try to help. I don’t even have a job description, really. You’d be better off talking to Drew, and even he’d probably be out of his depth.’ Because, she wanted to tell him, whatever happens between me and you, happens between me and my husband as well.