Conscious of their own uninvolvement, interested, a little excited and ungrieving, they chatted on and Kate let the talk flow. The Bostocks, like the rest of the household, had been told only that Boyton’s body had been found, and where. What else at present was there to tell? And there had been no point in leaving anyone in ignorance. It might with luck be possible to keep this present death out of the press, and for a while from the village if Mog held his tongue, but it was hardly feasible or necessary to keep it from anyone at the Manor.

It was nearly six o’clock when the breakthrough came. Kim roused herself from a minute’s silent reverie and said, “Poor man. He must have climbed into the freezer and then the lid fell down on him. Why would he do that? Perhaps he was playing a silly game, a sort of private dare, like kids do. My mum had a big wicker basket at home—more like a trunk, really—and we kids used to hide in it. But why didn’t he push up the lid?”

Dean was already clearing the table. He said, “He couldn’t, not if the catch fell down. But he’s not a kid. Daft thing to do. Not a nice way to go, suffocation. Or maybe he had a heart attack.” Looking at Kim’s face, creasing in distress, he added firmly, “That’s probably what it was, a heart attack. He got into the freezer out of curiosity, panicked when he couldn’t open the lid and died. Nice and quick. He wouldn’t have felt a thing.”

Kate said, “That’s possible. We’ll know more after the autopsy. Had he ever complained to you about his heart, said he had to be careful, anything like that?”

Dean looked at Kim, who shook her head. “Not to us. Well, he wouldn’t, would he? He wasn’t here often and we didn’t usually see him. The Westhalls may know. They’re cousins, and his story was that he came here to see them. Mrs. Frensham makes him pay something, but Mog says he doesn’t think it’s the full visitors’ rent. He says Mr. Boyton was just after a cheap holiday.”

Kim said, “I don’t think Miss Candace would know anything about his health. Mr. Marcus might, being a doctor, but I don’t think they were close. I’ve heard Miss Candace say to Mrs. Frensham that Robin Boyton never bothered to tell them when he was renting the cottage, and if you ask me they weren’t all that pleased to see him. Mog says that there was some kind of family feud, but he doesn’t know what about.”

Kate said, “This time, of course, Mr. Boyton said he was here to see Miss Gradwyn.”