‘Yes, perhaps you’re right. Maybe Iqbal saw something bad in his line of work. Although it rather begs the question, what on earth’s going on in Marlow that’s worth killing over?’

Suzie chortled huskily, took one last drag on her cigarette and then threw it away.

‘Oh there’s plenty of wrongdoing going on. Don’t be fooled by the nice front gardens and smart cars.’

‘You think so?’

‘I’ve been a dog walker the best part of three decades, and I can tell you, people around here are wicked.’

There was a finality to Suzie’s pronouncement that surprised Judith.

‘Emma, no!’ Suzie suddenly shouted, looking over as Emma the Dobermann started to chase down a Dachshund that was part of the group. Having caught the tiny dog, she grabbed it by the neck.

‘Put Arnold down!’ Suzie yelled, running towards the two dogs. ‘Sorry, got to go,’ Suzie called back to Judith as she ran after the Dobermann again. ‘Emma, no! Put Arnold down!’

As soon as Suzie had left, Judith went over to the cigarette that she’d dropped and stepped on it to stop it from smouldering. With the sort of heatwave they’d been having, it could have started a grass fire.

She then took a moment to consider what she’d learned and realised that it hadn’t been very much, although Suzie had been right about one thing. It was very possible that Iqbal had overheard or seen something in his taxi and that’s why he’d later been killed.

Judith decided that she could do with a good think and a walk, so she carried on in the direction of Marlow. Passing through a couple of fields, she was soon in Higginson Park, where she briefly stopped to watch the children running around the playground like tiny hooligans. She loved their energy and joie de vivre.

She then carried on past the church and entered a field on the other side of town. In the distance she saw a woman walking towards her. She was a good way away, but Judith could see that she had red hair a bit like the auburn-haired woman she’d seen in Stefan’s garden the day before. But then, as the woman got nearer, Judith realised something with a jolt.

It wasn’t just someone who looked like the woman from Stefan’s garden, it was the same woman!

Judith waved her arms and called, ‘Hello!’ across the field.

The red-haired woman stopped in her tracks.

‘Hold on a second!’ Judith called and started striding towards her.

The red-haired woman turned on her heels and ran out of the field.