‘I learned all this when I inherited from my great aunt Betty. But the thing is, once the will is in the public domain, anyone can order a copy of it. So all we have to do is log onto the relevant government website, order a copy of Ezra’s will, and then we’ll discover who inherited his money instead of Iqbal.’

‘And hopefully he’ll be the short, fat, doughy man,’ Suzie said.

‘Agreed. The short, fat, doughy man,’ Judith said. ‘Whoever he is.’

Chapter 20

Over the next few days, life returned to a semblance of normality for Judith. She managed to compile and submit a crossword to her editor at the Observer, she completed her jigsaw of the West Highland terrier before returning it to the charity shop she’d bought it from, and she swam every evening in the Thames. She felt she had no choice. The weather continued to be swelteringly hot all day, every day.

As for her new friends, Suzie was able to throw herself back into her work, but she couldn’t shift a nagging feeling that she was missing out. It wasn’t so much that she wanted to solve Iqbal’s murder, it was more that she’d enjoyed the sense of camaraderie that working with Judith and Becks had given her. The sad truth was, despite being surrounded by dogs, getting out every day for long walks, and even having people constantly coming and going in her house, Suzie was lonely. She had Emma, of course. Suzie had grown to like her new Dobermann a lot. But the truth was, she’d spent so many years as a single mother raising her two children to the best of her ability while also holding down a job that she’d lost touch with whatever friends she’d once had. And now that her children had left home, she felt stranded. Like an old boat that had been marooned on a beach as the tide went out.