It was Harriet who came to the door and asked him in. “I won’t, thanks. Just give a message to your Auntie Kate when she comes. I’ve left a note at the Mucky Duck to say the same. I’m calling in to see Mr. Hood at headquarters. Perhaps she’ll come round there when she’s said hello to you and your gran and Mrs. Sugden.”

He looked at Harriet’s face, sure then that he had kept anxiety from his voice. Sergeant Dog pushed forward, waiting his turn for attention. Sykes patted his head and told him he was a good dog, and to look after everyone. He nodded to the woman in the rocking chair. “How do!”

That would have been it, but Mrs. Sugden came out into the yard. Of course she would, Sykes thought, nothing slips past her.

She shut the door behind her. “What’s worrying you?”

“Mrs. Shackleton should have been here by now.”

“She’ll be here.” If she shared his anxiety, she did not show it. “It’s not easy to tear yourself away from a funeral do.”

“You said that three hours ago. I’m going to see Mr. Hood.”

“Oh that’ll be just grand, a grown woman on an assignment being reported to her dad as a damsel in distress. She’ll love that.”

Sykes felt himself tense. That was the trouble with Mrs. Sugden. She thought Mrs. Shackleton invincible. He tried another tack. “Mr. Hood’s stopping at his desk until he hears from her. It’s only polite to keep him in touch.”

A cat, tail held high, crossed the yard. It sniffed at the doorstep, and then jumped on Harriet’s gran’s windowsill and stared at the lace curtains. “Even a cat goes look-about,” Sykes said. “We can’t do nothing.”

Mrs. Sugden hated to admit he was right. While sitting chatting by the fire with Harriet and her gran, she had let the time go by, telling herself everything would be all right.

“I have an idea. What about if I telephone? The Brockmans know she has a housekeeper, and they know my name. I’ve answered the phone to them before.”

“Then they’ll know you’re calling from a different town.”

“What does that matter? I don’t have to explain why I’m at a different number. For all anyone knows, the landlord of the Mucky Duck might be my brother.” Watched by the cat that was still sitting on the windowsill, she opened the door a fraction and spoke to Harriet and her gran. “I won’t be long. I’ll get us some fish and chips.”

Sergeant Dog tried to break out. Harriet was there in an instant, putting on his lead. “I’ll go for the fish and chips.”