Why hadn’t he shown Sam what he’d discovered? He wasn’t sure himself. He lay back on the bed and tried to make some sense of it. Could Kate have trashed Emilia’s garden? And if she did, had she also killed the woman’s cat and done those other things?

What was he thinking? For heaven’s sake, she had been at home with him when the graffiti artist had been doing his work, and the fire bug. And by no stretch of the imagination could she have floored Matt with a chunk of wood! So what did it mean?

He could only think that she had dropped it when she stopped to talk to the old lady, which she did occasionally. She may have been invited into the garden to admire some botanical specimen or be given some of Emilia’s strawberries. Will remembered seeing his wife wander the fens carrying the doll, so she could easily have walked down the lane with it. Probably the dress had snagged on a bramble or a rose thorn.

He lay pondering the mystery, until he heard voices below. He pushed the scrap of material back in the evidence bag, returned the things to the drawer and went downstairs.

* * *

‘They drew a blank at Grove’s cottage. He grudgingly let them in, but they found nothing. Must have been someone who didn’t like the bloke and thought they’d stir things up a bit for him. And as that includes most people round here, I don’t think we’ll be spending too much time looking for our time-waster.’ Swifty looked at Matt and Will and shook his head. ‘This is really rough on you two, isn’t? I expect you’d rather be in my shoes right now, wouldn’t you?’

‘You can say that again, Swifty,’ said Will. ‘I miss you guys, I really do.’

Swifty kicked at a weed that had valiantly forged its way up between two paving slabs. ‘The DI still wants you back, you know. I reckon we’ve got more ex-coppers than serving police officers in Fenfleet by now. If that arm improves, you get yourself back in the job. And if not, don’t make strangers of us. We all still think about you, we miss you.’ He directed a thumb to Matt. ‘And this one. I’ve been trying to get him to have second thoughts and all. You should both come back.’

Will patted Swifty’s arm. ‘Thanks, mate. So, nothing at Grove’s place?’

‘No, nothing. God knows how the bloke can live in that rundown old shack. It’s a wreck. No mod cons, so to speak, other than a telephone and electricity.’

‘I’ve never been inside,’ Will said, ‘but you have, haven’t you, Matt?’