‘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.’

‘Sorry, but you’ll always be the guv’nor to me.’ The young Welshman looked around. ‘Good Lord! What on earth happened here? A runaway JCB?’

‘No, lad,’ Matt growled. ‘Some vindictive little bastard, and I can’t wait to lay my hands on him.’

‘Okay, what’s the background?’ Bryn took out his detective’s notebook.

Matt told him everything that had happened.

Bryn pulled a face. ‘Any ideas? You two know her. Has she said anything to give you some clue as to what is going on?’

Matt shrugged. ‘We actually don’t know her that well. She seems like a strong and capable woman. She keeps her place nice and her garden was a work of art.’ He grimaced. ‘Was.’

‘You said she’s foreign. Where is she from?’