“I think he was,” Lucy said. “I never met him either—I only got involved in the project about ten days ago—but everyone speaks very highly of him. He was so young as well.”

“And so enthusiastic,” Hazel said. “He was so into this project! He told me that he was doing the background research and his brother—Finn, isn’t it?—was doing the specific garden research and overseeing the excavation. He said they were certain that there was a Tudor garden at Knightstone dating from the era that Robert Catesby owned the property.” She shook her head. “I thought that would be amazing if they could uncover it. The period when Robert Catesby was here at Chastleton isn’t well recorded and of course his house is lost now, so anything new we could learn would be fascinating.”

Lucy took the book out of her bag and laid it on the table. “Did Charlie contact you about the book specifically or did he get in touch about Robert Catesby more generally?” she asked.

“Both really,” Hazel said. “We had a chat about the Catesby family and he said he’d tracked the book down to the National Trust collection here. I said we could lend it to him and he seemed very excited at the prospect.”

“Did he tell you why?” Lucy asked.

Hazel shook her head regretfully. “He only said that he’d discovered some sort of Catesby connection to the Knights Hospitaller and that he hoped there would be more about it in the book.” She looked at Lucy. “Does that make any sense to you?”

“I only know that the Knights Hospitaller had a monastic grange at Knightstone,” Lucy said, “but I thought that was way before the Tudor period. I’m not a historian,” she added. “I’m only helping out.”

“What happened to Charlie’s assistant?” Hazel asked. “Doesn’t she know what the connection might be?”

“Who?” Lucy said blankly.

Hazel looked confused. “Sorry, have I got the wrong end of the stick? Apparently when he came here there was a girl with him, a student, one of my colleagues thought, youngish, tall, blonde... She introduced herself as his research assistant.” She stopped, looking slightly embarrassed. “Sorry,” she said again. “I must have misunderstood.”

Persis, Lucy thought. She must have come to Chastleton with Charlie. Perhaps she had wanted to be a part of the project, to pass herself off as his assistant rather than his girlfriend. Or perhaps Charlie had given her a role in helping with the research, in which case it was odd she’d never mentioned it to Finn...

“I know who you mean,” Lucy said. “She was Charlie’s girlfriend.”

“Oh,” Hazel’s brow cleared. “Yes, Kirsty did say that they seemed close. Well.” She drained her cup. “Is there anything you wanted to ask at this stage? You’re very welcome to call me anytime, of course.” She passed Lucy a card.

“There’s just one thing,” Lucy said. “I saw that both Robert Catesby’s children were baptized here and I know his wife died in 1598. Was she buried in the church? I couldn’t find a gravestone.”