‘One last thing,’ he said. ‘She wasn’t actually malnourished, or showing signs of having been mistreated, but it appears that she existed on a rather poor diet, and from the condition of her muscles, seemed to get little exercise. Not sure if that helps you, but as they say, “That’s all, folks!”’

There was nothing there that he didn’t already know, except for the time of death, and the fact that she hadn’t been exactly cosseted. A week ago, eh? He would need to get a precise idea of her son’s comings and goings around then. He looked at the office clock. Too early to interview Shields. Maybe he’d take another run out to the house and have a quiet look around that annexe now the circus had moved out. He finished his sandwich, left a message for his DI and left.

* * *

Hugh Mackenzie had told Sam that he planned to drive down immediately after breakfast and spend a day with him, maybe two. He was practically buzzing after being told what their patient had done.

Sam ended the call and smiled at Laura. ‘He can’t wait to see him.’

‘Rather him than me.’ She pulled a face. ‘Although I feel I have to see this through.’ She sat down at the table and buttered her toast. ‘I hate to mention this at breakfast, but how long do you think that poor woman had been dead?’

‘Well, it’s not really my field, I’m glad to say, but it wasn’t within the last few days, that’s for sure. Maybe a week to ten days ago? Something like that.’

‘So he sat there feeding me the loving son routine — Mother said this, Mother said that — and all of it was a lie.’

‘Not just a lie. He’d actually killed her by then.’ Sam shivered at the thought of Laura sitting in her mill house consulting room talking with a man who had recently stabbed his own mother.

‘Jackman was right, wasn’t he?’ she said. ‘All along, he knew I was in danger.’

‘So did you, Laura.’ Sam stared into his mug of tea. ‘We can’t always interpret the warning signs our mind is giving us. We dismiss them as overreaction or simply think we’ve misunderstood.’ He sighed. ‘Ours is not a straightforward profession, my dear. Our cases are never black or white, and our subjects are all either disturbed or damaged.’

There was a knock at the door and Hetty Maynard bustled in.

‘I saw your cars still outside. Everything all right, Dr Archer?’ She stopped. ‘Oh my! Your poor head! That looks so painful!’

Assuring her it looked worse than it was, Laura went on to tell her that they were having another visitor who’d be staying for a day or so.