‘I wonder why she’s so attached to it. An overgrown garden and a few statues. A boathouse. If Patrick had died there, instead of in Barnard Bridge, you could understand it.’ Vera realized she was talking to herself and turned her attention to Ashworth. ‘Still no news of Connie?’ She knew the woman’s disappearance was on his mind.

‘I’ve put out a search for the car. If she’s not home tonight, I think we should go public, get the press involved. If she just wanted some breathing space she’d have told us where she was going. She’s not a stupid woman.’

‘You do realize,’ Vera said, ‘that some folk will see her disappearance as evidence of her guilt. Go to the media, and she’ll be the awful witch that caused Elias Jones’s death and a multiple murderer. Her photos all over the paper and the television. Just what she’d want before the lass starts school. Not.’

‘Do you think she’s a killer?’

‘Nah.’ Vera had just poked the last bit of cake into her mouth and the crumbs went everywhere when she spoke. ‘I think she’s scared. And not just of the press. Someone’s told her to make herself scarce.’

‘It could be more sinister than that.’

‘You think someone’s killed her to keep her quiet?’ Vera licked her fingers to pick up the crumbs from her plate and the surrounding table. ‘It’s possible. But if she’s dead, we can’t help her and going to the press will be bugger-all use.’ She paused. ‘What does she know that makes it so important that she shouldn’t talk to us?’

‘She could recognize the bloke that turned up at her house the afternoon of Jenny Lister’s death. We were going to show her photos of all the male suspects this morning.’

‘Aye,’ Vera said. ‘Maybe. But if he wanted to be discreet about visiting the Eliots, he’d hardly have asked directions from a stranger. And if he was the person who dumped Jenny’s bag, the same applies.’ She thought the guy was probably some door-to-door salesman. Surely Connie would have recognized Morgan if he’d turned up at her cottage. No way would she have invited him in for tea. But then with his new haircut Vera herself hadn’t recognized him.

‘Something about the Elias Jones case frightened her off then?’ It was clear Joe wasn’t going to let this go.

‘That takes us back to Michael Morgan again, doesn’t it? If we discount Connie, he’s the only person implicated in Elias Jones’s death who could be the killer. Mattie Jones was in hospital. So for now let’s concentrate on him. After that we’ll go back to Barnard Bridge. It’ll be the little girl’s bedtime. If they’re not back by then, it’s time to worry.’