‘Becks had rung the church bell. And the whole town turned out in the rain to see if they could help. There must have been two hundred of us by the end, and between the people of Marlow and the car we finally got the tree moved just enough that we could scrape past.’

‘Amazing,’ Judith said. ‘And you should know, you have to arrest Elliot Howard and Andy Bishop for murder as well.’

Judith quickly explained to Tanika and Becks how the three men had carried out the murders for each other.

‘It’s how I knew Danny would try to kill me tonight,’ she said, concluding her story. ‘It’s how they always did things. For each murder, the least likely person would do the killing while the other two would make sure they had unbreakable alibis. So I knew my life was in danger the moment Elliot told me he wouldn’t be in Marlow tonight, even though it was a choir night. And Andy’s secretary confirmed he’d be away as well.’

‘I’ll make sure they’re arrested tonight,’ Tanika said.

‘Elliot’s at a football match in London somewhere, and Andy’s in Plymouth.’

‘Don’t worry, we’ll pull them in.’

Judith and Tanika looked at each other for a moment. Judith could tell that Tanika was about to chastise her for trying to take on Danny on her own, but Tanika could also see that, for once, Judith wasn’t looking for a fight. In fact, the older woman just looked tired, and rueful, and suddenly both women realised they didn’t really have anything they needed to say to each other after all.

Tanika smiled.

‘You going to be okay?’

Judith smiled.

‘Yes,’ she said, simply. ‘Thank you for asking.’

Suzie clattered into the room and Becks and Judith gave a cheer as they went over to give her a hero’s welcome.

Tanika looked at the three women and couldn’t stop herself from grinning, especially when she saw Becks pick duckweed out of Suzie’s hair.

Tanika sighed in satisfaction to herself. It was over, finally over. Tomorrow night, she’d be able to read a bedtime story to her daughter. But that was tomorrow. For tonight, she had three men to charge with murder.

The three friends were too busy fussing over Suzie to notice Tanika leave.

‘How on earth did you get across the river?’ Judith asked Suzie.

‘I swam,’ Suzie said.

‘But you can’t swim,’ Becks said.

‘I gave it a bloody good go, but I’d agree with you. I can’t. So, one minute I was above the water, the next I was below, and then I felt these jaws tighten around the neck of my coat. Emma saved me,’ Suzie added, looking with wonder at Emma. ‘Once she’d pulled me to the riverbank, I sent her to save you, Judith.’