‘I know he did.’ Jazz nodded. ‘Tell me, where did you get the ring from originally?’

‘Oh, from Hugh,’ Jenny admitted. ‘He came to visit me a couple of times at the convent where I was sent. And the last time he came, before the baby was born, he drew a ring out of his pocket, said he wanted me to have it as a remembrance of Corin. I think he felt sorry for me. It was a nice thing to do.’ Jenny smiled weakly.

‘Yes, it was,’ Jazz agreed. ‘So, did you ever tell Hugh what you’d done with the ring?’

‘Oh yes,’ Jenny nodded. ‘I thought he might think I’d lost it, or something, if I didn’t. It was only right to tell him as he’d given it to me in the first place. Hugh said, like you, that it was a good thing to have done, but we agreed we had no idea what would happen to it in the future. Hugh said it didn’t matter, that it was more about the gesture.’ Tears came to Jenny’s eyes again. ‘Oh dear, I do miss him. He was the only one that knew, apart from my best friend, Maddy.’

‘It sounds as though he was very kind to you.’ Jazz smiled.

‘He was.’ Jenny nodded. ‘And he’s left me something in his will, bless him, although what with the goings-on at school, I still haven’t got up to London to find out what it is.’

Jazz paused before she said, ‘Jenny, have you heard who Hugh left the rest of his estate to?’

She shook her head. ‘No, I haven’t.’

‘Well, he left it to Sebastian Frederiks.’

Jenny raised her eyebrows. ‘Sebastian? That’s odd. I remember Hugh telling me he’d never been very fond of him, as man or boy. Chalk and cheese they were, those two. But a good foil for each other at Fleat House.’

‘What did you make of Sebastian, Jenny?’

She shrugged. ‘I suppose I thought the same as Hugh, really. He was always a bit of a bully when he was a boy, and Hugh thought he was too physical as a housemaster. On the other hand, I suppose some of those lads need a strong hand.’

‘So, do you have any idea why Hugh might have left everything to a man he had never particularly liked?’

Jenny shook her head. ‘Not a clue, Inspector. If you want my opinion, it strikes me as downright odd, but it’s not my place to say so. I’m sure Hugh had his reasons. He used to think everything through, never did anything on the spur of the moment, bless him.’

‘Yes, from what I’ve heard of him, he seemed like a very careful man. So, what was it that made Hugh change his will in favour of Sebastian, I wonder?’

‘As I said, I can’t make head nor tail of it.’

‘Unless . . .’ Jazz knew she had to choose her words carefully. ‘Jenny, what if Hugh had seen something . . . a . . . possession, of someone’s recently that led him to think he’d identified your adopted baby?’