A figure in a long mink coat was coming up the drive toward us. And a short, stocky figure beside her. “And my grandfather,” I said. “It’s a little early for a social call.”

Mummy spotted me at the same time and waved. “Yoo-hoo, darling! We were just coming to see you.”

They waited until we joined them. “Is something wrong?” I asked.

“It’s Miss Prendergast,” Mummy said. “We’re worried that something has happened to her.”

“Oh, no.” Darcy and I exchanged a glance.

“Well, I felt sorry for the old biddy,” Granddad said. “She had that awful shock yesterday. So I got your mum to come with me to see how she was doing this morning and nobody answers the door. We wondered—well, if anything might be wrong. Have you heard from the inspector this morning?”

“I haven’t seen anybody,” I said. “You didn’t happen to see her when you were out riding, did you?” I asked Darcy.

He shook his head. “We went up on the moors. Nowhere near the village.”

“Oh, no,” I said. “Poor Miss Prendergast. She is a bit of a busybody, isn’t she? I hope she didn’t see something that put her in danger.” And immediately it crossed my mind that she had been the first person into the church. If the killer had been in the process of making his getaway, had she caught a glimpse of him? Had he thought she’d seen him? In which case she had sealed her fate.

“We’d better go and take a look,” Darcy said. We walked back down the drive together at a quick pace.

“Strange woman, isn’t she?” Mummy said, taking quick and dainty little steps on her high platform shoes to keep up with us. “I wouldn’t have thought she was the type prone to hysterics. Always acted like one of those capable and no-nonsense females.”

“Well, she had just found a body,” Darcy pointed out.

“And you say she was a lifelong spinster?” Mummy went on. “I’d swear that woman was no virgin.”

We looked at her with interest. “Why do you say that?”

“The way she sat, darling. I noticed her particularly at that ball. She sat with her legs crossed, leaning back in her seat. Spinsters always sit bolt upright with their knees together.”

We had to laugh, but she went on. “They do. You know it’s that upbringing thing—their mothers drummed into them that the best form of birth control is to put a sixpence between your knees and keep it there.”