Then it was all over. A cacophony of voices and engines broke the silence. All Marie wanted now was to get on her bike and ride away. She wanted to phone Ralph.

She was checking Tiger over for any damage after her earlier stunt act when she heard Jackman behind her.

‘You really are a Welsh witch, aren’t you? If you hadn’t guessed what he was planning, we’d be standing here waiting for the underwater retrieval team to bring up a submerged car and two bodies. How did you do that? How did you know?’

‘Andy’s words had been going round and round in my head,’ she said.

‘And skidding that monster of yours to a halt in front of a speeding vehicle. You scared the shit out of me! I don’t think I’ll ever forgive you for that, Marie Evans!’

‘On reflection, probably not my best move, but I knew you wouldn’t let me down with that Stinger.’ She attempted a smile.

‘That bloody thing arrived just minutes before you did! Hell, we could have been dredging you and that motorcycle of yours out of the Wash along with the rest.’

‘But you didn’t, did you? Don’t overreact, boss.’ She pulled on her helmet, got on the bike and grinned at him. ‘We always get there in the end, one way or another.’

As she rode away from the busy scene, she glanced back and saw Jackman standing apart from the others, watching her. He was shaking his head.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Laura finally got her wish, and Marie and Ralph came over to Mill Corner for dinner. It turned out to be a rather different sort of evening to the one she had originally planned. Yes, Marie and her new man would be there, but so would Sam and Hughie, who had been staying with them for the past month, and DC Vic Blackwell.

Autumn had well and truly arrived, bringing cold evenings with a hint of early frost. It had taken them all a while to settle down after Saltern’s two recent serious cases, but at last they could all relax and enjoy an evening together, eating and drinking, and dissecting the cases one last time.

Laura liked the colder weather because it meant they could light a fire in the lounge. The warm glow of the embers and the soft lighting made the room look cosy and inviting. They would go there after dinner, and Jackman would open one of his precious bottles of cognac.

Now Laura was polishing glasses and checking that everything was ready for seven. Like a lot of people, they never used the dining room, but always gathered around the big kitchen table. Hetty Maynard had kindly brought her a large home-made blackberry and apple pie. Laura had been tempted to pass it off as her own but knew she’d be rumbled.