Edie shook her head. ‘I don’t know. But if Gilly’s anywhere near her property, she’d better be careful. Dora McCreedy’s not the sort to give chances.’

‘All right,’ Rachel said. ‘I’ll try to talk to her tomorrow.’

There was a brief silence as Edie re-inked the block.

‘Any more problems with the goat?’ Rachel asked.

Edie blew out a breath. ‘Not so far. Maybe it understands language. Last time I threw it out I threatened to barbecue it if I saw it again. I swear I’d do the same to Ezra Jones if I could find a grill big enough.’

Rachel snickered gently.

Five

‘I don’t know about the rest of you,’ Cullen said from across the chessboard, ‘but I could use a pint. Who’s up for the Fretted Goose?’

It was a Thursday afternoon, and Cullen’s question came towards the end of it, as Toby was standing at the bookshop’s counter after another day of work.

‘You’re on,’ Ron said, getting up from his chair, ‘but let me take the mutt home for a feed first.’

‘Here – hang on a minute and I’ll walk down the hill with you as far as mine.’ Cullen got up and turned to Rachel and Toby. ‘You two coming as well?’

‘Definitely,’ Toby said. He looked at Rachel, willing her to say yes. ‘Actually, I was going to suggest the same thing.’

Rachel smiled. ‘All right, I’ll come. If only,’ she said, looking at Cullen, ‘to make sure you’re being as sensible as the doctor told you to be.’

‘Tsk,’ Cullen muttered good-naturedly. ‘Take all the joy out of a man’s life, will doctors. I’m fit as a fiddle, me.’

‘I need to cash up and feed Eustace first, so I’ll be a while yet,’ Rachel reminded them.

‘Same goes for me, actually,’ Toby said. ‘I need to pop back to the cottage. But I’ll join you in half an hour or so.’

‘We’ll see you down there then,’ Cullen said, and hustled Ron and Bukowski out, apparently eager to get going.

Toby turned back to the counter to find Rachel watching the closed door with narrowed eyes.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

‘Not sure,’ Rachel said, ‘but I get the feeling he’s up to something.’

‘Who, Cullen? What kind of thing?’

She tapped the price of his books into the old till. ‘Oh, I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.’

In fact, they found out when neither Ron or Cullen arrived for the drink they had themselves suggested. Toby was the first to reach the pub and at first assumed that he’d beaten them to it. He ordered himself a pint and then one for Rachel when she arrived. They sat together, chatting and waiting, and as the minutes ticked by it occurred to Toby that perhaps they weren’t going to come at all.

‘Do you get the feeling,’ he said eventually, ‘that we may have been set up?’

‘I wondered when you were going to realize.’

‘You have sneaky friends,’ he observed, lifting his pint.