‘I think I got hints of it about November-time. Ozzy became very evasive, but I had done my research, and managed to phone him at home during the evening a couple of times. He basically blamed his boss for holding back the money.’

‘His name?’ Gillard knew, but wanted to see what Mrs Ransome knew.

‘Kelvin Arrowsmith. Far too high and mighty to deal with us, apparently. Regional financial controller. Anyway, it was around Christmas when we stopped getting any visits from Ozzy. He had been seen about, apparently, but he wouldn’t come to any of our meetings like before.’

‘Do you think anyone had been threatening him?’

‘You mean apart from me?’ She smiled. ‘I was on his case the whole time.’

‘I mean physically threatened?’

‘Well, that could be any number of people in the village. He let us down, you see. People want to sell their houses, but even those who weren’t flooded last time are tainted by their proximity to an unresolved flooding issue. Lots of us can’t get insurance, except at prohibitive cost. We’re blighted, the whole village is blighted. I had hoped that when I die, my little cottage here would provide money so that Stewie can be looked after if he needs to go into residential care. But I doubt there’ll be enough. This lovely charming little cottage is worth less than a half of what similar places go for in Haslemere. So I want compensation, as well as the work completed to get everything fixed.’

‘But aren’t they completing the work now?’

‘My understanding is that most of what they’re spending is on the water mains to supply the new houses outside Upper Rissington.’

‘I do understand your predicament, but you have to understand I’m here about something else. We have a dead body, and we want to find out who killed him.’

At that moment Stewie emerged from the passageway into the garden. ‘Mum, I’m going to play Cluedo with Callum and Rowena. Are you coming too?’

‘Not this time, Stewie. Remember to take your mask and hand sanitiser.’

‘All right,’ he said, and almost skipped back down the passageway.

‘He adores Rowena,’ Mrs Ransome told Gillard. ‘In fact I think he’s got a bit of a crush on her. Such a lovely girl. She’s always got time for him; she’s so patient and sweet. And of course she is terribly pretty when she can bother to make the effort. If only she’d remove that nose ring.’

‘I presume the Rev Cleaver has been a great asset to your campaign?’