“My mother left me her money. And I’d have wanted to be there, helping out, rather than in some position in Carlisle or Chester where I couldn’t see her every day. I’m not ashamed that I loved her. But I’ll thank you not to pass that on to my wife. Betsy is jealous. I found that out too late.” He picked up the hammer and struck the frozen nut around a screw. This time the blow broke the rusty bond that had locked the two together, and he could spin the nut. “How can you be so wrong about a woman’s smile? But I was lonely, and I wanted a son. I’ve not had even him yet.”

Hamish said, “Ye ken, he was more likely to kill his ain wife than the lass in the cottage.”

Rutledge had got the same feeling. He thanked Lawrence Cobb and left. But not before Cobb said, “I’ll tell you this, and then deny I ever said it. But it’s crossed my mind a time or two since I heard Florence was dead. It’s possible her husband didn’t want her anymore, that he’d met someone else he wanted to marry, and he couldn’t find a decent way out of his dilemma. And so he killed her. Ask Jake. He might know.”

But how did you ask a parrot about a murder?

Rutledge reported his conversations to Constable Satterthwaite, who said, “I expect that tallies with what I’ve been told. It’s sad that Lawrence Cobb couldn’t have married her. He would have done his best to make her happy.”

“And you don’t think he might have come to her, been turned away, and lashed out? He’s a strong man. I found him working on his tractor and wielding his hammer with some force. An angry force.”

But Satterthwaite shook his head. “I’ve known Lawrence since he was a boy. And I’ll tell you this, if he killed her, he wouldn’t have left her there in the doorway for anyone to find. Well. We’ve got word out for people to watch for a walker. That may be our only hope now. If he didn’t get the wind up and leave this part of the country.”

“Why would a walker kill her?” he asked for the second time.

“That’s puzzled me too, but I’m used to puzzles and answers that make no more sense than the puzzle did. Unless of course he was here on purpose, to take that chest of letters. And she caught him at it. That makes a certain sense, now.”

“Why would he want to steal old letters? It’s a matter of record that they were married, she and Teller. At the church.”