Harri was taken aback by the curt tone.

‘Well? You’re about to push my button,’ the woman added, nodding towards Harri’s finger, which hovered above number five.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she replied. ‘Are you Margery Allen?’

‘Of course I am,’ Margery snapped. ‘The real question is who are you?’

‘My name’s Harriet Kealty. I’m investigating the death of David Asha.’

Margery glanced down at her dog, and Harri sensed a shift in her mood. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have time. I’ve got to walk Fred.’

‘I can come with you. This won’t take long. I promise.’

Margery snorted, shut the front door, and brushed past her. Harri wasn’t sure whether that was a refusal, so she chanced her luck and fell in beside the brusque woman and her dog as they started down the path.

Chapter 15

‘I told the police everything,’ Margery said as they waited for a car to pass.

‘It would really help if you could just go over exactly what you saw.’

Margery frowned, and Harri followed her across the road towards the bridge.

‘I like it up there.’ Margery nodded towards the cliffs on the other side of the estuary. ‘Away from all the tourists and bother makers.’ If there had been any doubt she was referring to Harri, she eradicated it with a pointed glance. ‘My heart sank when I saw him. Unhinged. Degenerate. Talking to himself. I thought he was holding something.’

‘What?’ Harri asked.

Margery tutted. ‘Are you going to constantly interrupt like that? It’s very rude, you know. And you throw me off my rhythm. Where was I . . .’

‘You thought he was holding something.’

Margery scowled. ‘It was something small. A ball or a stone. He kept looking at it.’

Harri had to skip as Margery strode down the steps. She really did walk fast.

‘Did you hear what he was saying?’

‘I didn’t get too close. Just the odd word. Something about courage, I think, but I couldn’t swear to it.’

They wove through groups of slow-moving walkers and tourists.

‘And you passed him on your way back?’ Harri asked.

Margery nodded, but there was hesitation in the gesture. She had the expression of a child being forced to the dentist. The conversation was going somewhere unwelcome.

‘And it was another quarter of a mile before you noticed he’d gone? What’s that? About five or six minutes?’

They approached the old turnstile and Harri ferreted in her pocket for some change to put in the donation box to contribute to the upkeep of the bridge.

‘More like three or four. I’m a fast walker.’

‘I’ve noticed,’ Harri said.

Margery snorted again. ‘Is that all? I’d really like to get going now, and you’re slowing me down.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Harri replied. ‘I do have one last question.’

The sound of their footsteps thudding against the planks merged with the hubbub of the small crowd and the rattle of an approaching train.

‘Why are you lying?’ Harri asked. She was fishing, but something about the way Margery had reacted to being asked about the return journey suggested she wasn’t being completely honest.