‘You sound like Just William or some boy detective, talking like that. You don’t just solve a murder like a Rubik’s Cube.’ She knew she sounded tetchy, but his confession of a deliberate plan to extract information from her in collusion with his girlfriend had annoyed her.

‘Don’t you? I thought that was what you did.’

‘You thought wrong. I’m a house-sitter, that’s all. Or I was. Now I’m an undertaker’s wife. This job is a one-off. It was all Gladwin’s idea. She seemed to think I needed a break from looking after Drew’s kids.’ It sounded worse, every time she said it – or even thought it. It was so irresponsible … selfish … unkind … to go off as she’d done, leaving poor Drew to cope.

‘Be that as it may, I think we might want to take this a bit further. I didn’t mean to deceive you. It’s all 187terribly tentative, but there’s a niggling little idea that Jen wants sorted out. It’s horrible to talk like this, I know. Something and nothing. But I can’t tell you any more until we’ve got something concrete to go on.’

‘Is it something that might identify Grace?’

‘We thought it might be. But that isn’t the name of the person we’re following up. So it’s almost certainly a complete mistake. And that’s why I can’t say any more.’ He looked genuinely wretched at having to be so evasive.

‘Well I can’t force you,’ she said tightly. ‘But thanks for the lunch.’ Clovis had insisted on paying for her pie. ‘It was delicious.’

‘Good. Well don’t take any silly risks, at least. Lock all the doors when the builders have gone and keep your phone by your side. Make sure it’s charged, as well. The damn things can let you down at the crucial moment if you don’t watch out.’

She took her mobile out of her bag and gave it to him. ‘Put your number in, then.’

He thumbed the screen, and reported that she only had sixteen per cent battery life left. ‘Plug it in the minute you get back,’ he ordered her.

‘Yes, sir.’ It was nice, of course, to have a big handsome man looking after her welfare. It reminded her of former times, with attentive boyfriends all competing for her favours. But then she had married two men who each insisted that she could quite well stand up for herself. Somewhere inside, she presumed, there was an assertive female who actually wanted to go her own way, without a champion hovering behind her to catch her when she 188fell. But even the most ardent feminist must be permitted the occasional lapse, she supposed.

‘Is it all right with you if I tell Jennifer everything you’ve told me?’

‘That’s not for me to say, is it? The fact that the woman was killed at the Corner House is common knowledge, anyway. And you don’t want Jennifer thinking you’re keeping any secrets from her, do you?’

Her words were almost instantly drowned by a cheerful voice calling, ‘Hi, Thea! Fancy meeting you here.’