‘Muriel Pearson’s house is next door to number 19, where Samantha Granger lives,’ said Wing. ‘That’s Samantha Granger who was having her shopping delivered at the time a shot was heard, remember? Delivered by a man in a van?’

‘So … the driver, he was who Muriel Pearson saw?’ asked Sam. ‘She saw a man and mistook him for a woman?’

‘Nope.’ James Wing was enjoying this too much. Simon wanted to press his face against a wall, sideways on, so that his mouth looked squished and stupid. He shook his head to banish the violent image. At one time, long ago in his police career, he’d have jumped out of his chair and made his fantasy a reality.

‘The woman Muriel saw wasn’t a real woman, or a man,’ said Wing.

‘A eunuch?’ said the Snowman with a heavy sigh.

‘It was a picture – a life-size picture – of a woman. Blonde, yes, grinning, yes, and seemingly staring at Muriel Pearson’s living room wall because, being an image, her eyes could only stare straight ahead. Anyone here ever seen an Asda delivery van?’

Grace Woolston gasped, covered her mouth with her hands, then spluttered with laughter. ‘Oh, my God!’

‘I have.’ Sam was nodding. ‘Yes, a blonde woman with a fringe, smiling. She’s on most of the Asda vans, isn’t she?’

‘I’ve seen her too,’ said Neil Dunning. ‘But wait a second, you’re not seriously telling me—’

‘That anyone could mistake a picture of a woman for an actual woman?’ Wing cut him off. ‘I thought that too. So next time Samantha Granger had an Asda delivery due, I made sure to be in Muriel Pearson’s front room. It was uncanny. If I hadn’t known it was the Asda van lady, yeah, I reckon I might have thought she was real. Muriel Pearson lives in a tiny, light-deprived cottage. Her window’s pretty small and the van would have been right up against it. From where she was sitting on the sofa watching telly, she wouldn’t have been able to see its top, sides or wheels – only a woman’s face and upper body. She assumed, as I think at least a few others might have, that it was a real woman.’

‘Who slid to the side,’ said Grace Woolston, trying not to laugh.

‘Yeah, as the van drove off, obviously,’ said Wing. He shrugged. ‘I don’t think I need to spell it out, do I? Our one promising lead’s down the pan.’

‘Muriel Pearson had never seen her neighbour’s shopping being delivered before that day?’ Simon asked. ‘Most people who shop online have a regular supermarket they use. How come Pearson wasn’t already familiar with the blonde woman on the side of the Asda van?’