Will stood for a few moments, staring in horror, until Matt came up and stood at his shoulder. ‘Where is Emilia?’ he said.

‘With Liz, back at Cannon Farm. She’s naturally terribly upset, so we took her out of the way. I rang it in as soon as we saw it. It’s gone too far now.’ Matt stared around. ‘This is more than mindless thuggery, isn’t it?’

Will looked at a big terracotta pot, shattered, and the damp potting compost spread over the broken remains of the flowering shrub that had been growing in it. ‘Definitely. Tell me, has Emilia had any more of those threatening notes?’

Matt shook his head. ‘No, and it’s been quiet all week. Liz and I have been keeping a pretty close eye on the place. We were just beginning to think the bastards had called it a day when this happens.’ He exhaled and shook his head angrily. ‘That poor woman. She was away for a couple of nights — left her car with us — and came back to find her beautiful garden totally trashed. I feel responsible, Will. We said we’d watch the place and we failed her.’

‘It’s not your fault, Matt. You could hardly camp out in the garden. She’s my next-door neighbour — you’d have thought we would have heard something, given the damage they did.’ Will pointed to Emilia’s cold frame. The vandal had picked up a heavy stone bird bath and hurled it into the glass lid of the frame, smashing the glass and buckling the metal framework.

‘Next-door neighbour, but certainly not close. You can’t even see Little Anchor from your house.’ Matt shook his head. ‘No, we let her down, and I’m damned well going to see to it that whoever did this faces a bloody judge.’

Will had never seen Matt so upset. ‘What time did you come out here last night?’ he asked.

‘Around nine, and then again just after midnight. We even waited a while, about half an hour, but the place was deserted and quiet. I’m guessing this was done just before dawn.’ He bent down and picked up the broken branch of some flowering shrub. ‘Look, it’s a recent break. The stem is still oozing sap.’

Kate must have driven past on her way to the town. She had to have noticed it. So why didn’t she stop and ring him, or come back to the house and tell him herself? You couldn’t not notice, the old woman’s garden looked like a warzone.

He heard a car approaching. ‘We have company.’

Matt nodded. ‘DC Bryn Owen. We are honoured — we have a detective, no less!’

Will smiled. ‘I’m not surprised, considering it was Fenfleet’s former DCI who rang them.’

Bryn greeted his old boss warmly. ‘Didn’t expect to see you again so soon, sir. How are you?’

Matt accepted the outstretched hand. ‘I’m fine, Bryn, and it’s not “sir” any more. I’m just plain Matt now.’