He went back to the kitchen and looked in the cupboards. Anna had only brought the basics with her. This could be a student house. There were a few mismatched bowls and plates, some cutlery in a tray. Most of her stuff was still dirty on the counter. Perez was tempted to wash it up. In the cupboard there was one clean glass. It still had a white thread of cotton inside from the tea towel, so it had been dried quite recently.

He stood looking at it and pictured again the evening of Anna’s death. Perhaps there had been a visitor, someone who’d had a glass of wine with Anna? Someone who had taken the trouble to wash up the glass and put it away before leaving the house. And that definitely suggested not suicide – but murder.

5

The Village

Anna’s elderly neighbour must have been looking out for Jimmy Perez leaving her house, because he came to his door and shouted across.

‘Everything all right?’

Perhaps everyone in this village was nosy.

‘Yes,’ Jimmy said. ‘I’m surprised the landlord’s not been in to clear the place for the next tenant.’

‘Maybe the doctor and his wife thought it wouldn’t look good if they were too hasty. Perhaps they’re showing the lass a bit of respect at last, even if it’s too late.’

‘Maybe.’ Perez paused. ‘The local police must have asked if you were at home the evening that Anna died?’

‘I’m always at home,’ the man said. ‘Once it gets dark, at least.’

‘You didn’t happen to notice if Anna had a visitor?’ Perez leaned on the little wall that separated the man’s garden from the pavement.

‘The police asked me that too.’

‘And what did you tell them?’ Perez tried to keep his patience.

‘That I didn’t see anyone.’

Perez sensed that the man had more to say. ‘But perhaps you heard a car?’

‘Not a car. I didn’t tell the other policemen because I wasn’t sure and they were in such a rush, but I thought I heard voices through the joining wall. It could have been the television, though Anna didn’t watch much TV. Music was more her thing.’

‘The voices must have been loud for you to have heard them through the wall,’ Perez said.

‘Nah, these houses were put up in a rush just after the war. No sound-proofing at all.’

‘So you could hear what was said?’ Perez found that he was holding his breath, waiting for an answer.

‘Nah, nothing like that. Just a murmur of voices. Nobody was shouting, and like I said, it could just have been the telly.’ The old man stamped his feet to show that he was feeling the cold and disappeared inside.

It was still only mid-morning. It must be playtime at the school, Perez thought, because he could hear the children’s voices again. He didn’t want to go back to the hotel and to Elspeth’s questions, but he felt a need for strong coffee and a chance to think in peace.