‘Yes, you told me that. It’ll be nice to have some better options.’

‘Mm. I’m not sure about Bibury, actually. It’s always full of Chinese tourists, apparently.’212

‘You told me that as well. What’s wrong with Chinese tourists?’

‘Nothing, really. I just wonder why they home in on that particular village. It seems a bit brainless, somehow.’

‘And your murder victim might have been one of them – do you think? Somehow missed her bus and got into a pickle.’

‘A bit more than a pickle – but yes, there might well be a connection somewhere. Although it wouldn’t fit with what she told me.’ She was hoping he would start to show a genuine interest, asking for details and offering theories, as he had done in the past. Instead, he just mumbled something that sounded like uh-huh, and said he should go because he’d got a mug of coffee getting cold.

‘Right, then,’ she said. ‘I’ll phone you again tomorrow evening.’

‘There’s really no need.’

‘I want to, Drew. I need to hear your voice, okay? I’m going to keep phoning every evening whether you like it or not.’

‘Oh, well, then,’ he said with a fond little laugh, ‘I suppose I’ll have to let you, if you feel like that about it.’

It had all been so tepid, she thought sadly. Like people who had been married for fifty years. How had it got to this point so quickly? Was it entirely her fault? She automatically assumed it must be, because Drew was indisputably good. He had no vices. Everybody who met him liked or even loved him. They trusted and respected him. He was 213principled, sensitive, patient and sweet-tempered. And a whole lot more along the same lines.

She gave an irritable shake. She’d been through all this before, and concluded that nobody could be perfect, and if Drew made a better job of it than she did, then this was a problem for them as a couple. She wanted life to be dangerous now and then, to make mistakes and lose her temper. A couple counsellor might very well say that she was doing all that for two. That between them the Slocombes made a fully rounded person, but that splitting the positive and negative elements of personality between them was not entirely healthy. She knew the theory, but saw no way of changing the way she and Drew were implementing it in practice.

And then, inevitably, images of Clovis Biddulph began to sneak into her head. He wasn’t tepid. He was smouldering and brave and reckless. He wanted to know all about the murder, and actually get involved in digging for clues. If she allowed him to participate, that too would be reckless. Whatever he might say about his beloved Jennifer, there would be definite danger in spending time with him. While her own turbulent hormones seemed to have gone off the boil somewhat, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t fire up again. She had no doubt that she could seduce him if she set her mind to it. He had delicately indicated that she was safe from attack, if that was how she wanted it. The ball was in her court, and the way she was feeling about Drew just now, she might well decide to lob it back with an invitation pinned to it.214