‘Right, and who are we today? Kenneth Branagh? I see a vague resemblance.’

‘He’ll do. Not as good-looking, of course.’ With a grin, Matt hurried towards the unsuspecting woman.

‘Well, I’m blowed! It’s Mrs Swain, isn’t it?’ He turned to Liz. ‘Liz, this is Will and Kate’s neighbour on Whisper Fen.’ He stopped in front of the surprised woman. ‘Matt Ballard, Mrs Swain. I knew your husband, Leonard. Back then, I must have been DS Ballard. Now, I’m a retired DCI.’

Light dawned. Emilia Swain beamed back. ‘Of course! That nice police officer who was so helpful to my dear husband. How are you?’

‘Very well, thank you, Mrs Swain. This is my partner, Liz. We worked together at Fenfleet police station.’

‘I’d shake hands, but . . .’ Liz laughed, holding up her shopping bags.

‘Actually, we are just about to head off home. Can we give you a lift? It’s almost on our doorstep, and we are only parked over there.’ He pointed across the square.

‘That’s very kind,’ said Emilia. ‘If it’s not too much trouble, that would be wonderful.’

Liz smiled to herself, hearing the “v” in wonderful. Emilia might have lived here for the greater part of her life, but she had never lost that accent.

Matt took some of her bags and they made their way to Matt’s Toyota hybrid. After loading everything in the boot, he helped her up into the car.

‘I hate using the bus,’ she said, ‘but my old car is finally kaput. I knew it would happen one day. My husband, he told me so many times that I should get a new car every three years, but my Petunia, she was running so well that I kept her longer than he suggested.’ Emilia shook her head. The passing of Petunia had obviously been a great personal loss.

‘How long did you have, er, Petunia then, Mrs Swain?’ asked Liz.

‘Ah, let me see. We bought her in 1967, brand new, of course, one of the last they produced.’

After a quick calculation, Liz came to the conclusion that Petunia had had an incredible run for her money — she had to have been well over fifty.

‘What kind of car was she, Mrs Swain?’ asked Matt.

‘An Austin A40 Farina Mark II in Horizon Blue,’ Emilia declared proudly, then opened her capacious handbag and rooted around in it. ‘Of course, I shall get a replacement. You cannot exist out in the fen villages without wheels. While I was at the market last Wednesday, I also went into a couple of garages.’ She extracted two brochures and handed one to Liz. ‘I’m torn between that . . .’ she indicated the first, ‘and this one.’

Liz found herself staring at the spec sheet for a Lexus ES saloon. She coughed to hold back a laugh. ‘Nice cars.’