Will took out a small notebook from his inside jacket pocket. ‘Several small, seemingly unconnected incidents. It’s possible that they mean nothing, and I’ve blown them all out of proportion, but listen to this.’ He looked down at his notes. ‘Whisper Fen is only a few miles from Tanners Fen and having lived here all your life, you might know a couple of the people concerned. Have you heard of a woman called Emilia Swain?’

Matt nodded. ‘The German lady, lives quite close to you. Husband died quite a while ago. Nice woman, as I recall. I had some dealings with her husband way back, after his business was broken into.’

‘Ah, good, that could make life easier. Well, recently, someone has been aiming a series of malicious acts at her. I only found this out last week. She has put them down to prejudice, but I don’t believe that for one second.’ Will sipped his coffee. ‘The thing is, she doesn’t want to bother anyone, and she certainly won’t make an official complaint, so I wondered if we could engineer an accidental meeting with you both, so you can get her to talk about it.’

‘What kind of malicious acts?’ asked Liz, offering the biscuits to Will.

‘For starters, someone killed her cat.’ He pulled a face. ‘Disgusting. Then someone snapped the lock off her shed and trashed everything inside, and . . .’ He paused, frowning. ‘And I think there is something else, but she clammed up on me.’

‘Well, you certainly don’t need to hire us, Will.’ Matt looked at Liz and raised an eyebrow. ‘We’ll see what we can find out, but as your friends.’

Liz nodded vigorously. ‘Of course! And we’ve just concluded the case we were working on, so we can pitch in immediately. Tell me, how do you propose to set up this “accidental” meeting?’

‘She’ll be going to the farmers’ market in Fenfleet tomorrow. Her old car has packed up, so she’ll take the bus from Whisper Corner. If you were to bump into her and give her a lift home . . . ? I know the bus times, and she never misses market day, so you’re sure to find her there. Sound okay to you?’

‘Yup,’ said Liz. ‘And if she already knows Matt, that should work well. We’ll tell her we were on our way to see you.’

‘I’m happy with that,’ Matt said. ‘So, what else is bothering you?’

‘A man named Gerald Grove. Ever heard of him?’

Matt frowned. ‘The name doesn’t ring a bell. How about you, Liz?’

She shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

‘I have seen him before, I know I have. It must have been to do with work.’ Will’s expression darkened. ‘And I don’t like him.’

‘Ah, we might need a little more than that,’ Matt said.