“Now I’ve honestly got no idea what I think about a single thing. She was nice, though.”

“The woman who was killed?”

“Frances, yes. She came from an entirely different world and I would never have met her in the ordinary run of things—she was rich and stylish and ironic, and had that well-bred, well-groomed English reticence. But in spite of that I liked her. She was good to me. And I don’t understand why she’s dead. And I don’t understand why someone wanted me to think Greg was having an affair with Milena. I don’t understand at all.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

I wasn’t sure which police station to go to, but I knew it would be bad either way, and it was. I went to see WPC Darby because I hoped she might be sympathetic to me, knowing me as a grieving widow. When she greeted me, I noticed the wary expression people adopt when they open their door to someone trying to give them a pamphlet about a fringe religion. But she sat me down and gave me some tea. I started to explain why I was there and her expression changed from wariness to puzzlement, then from puzzlement to what looked like alarm. She hushed me and almost rushed out of the room.

She returned five minutes later and asked if I could follow her. She led me through a door and into a room that was bare, except for a table and three orange plastic chairs. She sat me down and stood awkwardly by the door. I told her she didn’t need to stay but she said it was all right. It looked as if she had been told to stay with me and also not to say anything more. So I sat and she stood and we spent ten awful minutes avoiding each other’s eyes until the door opened and a detective came in. I recognized him as Detective Inspector Carter, the one I had talked to before. He didn’t even sit down.

“WPC Darby tells me that you found the body of Mrs. Frances Shaw.”

“That’s right,” I said.

“And you called it in?”

“Yes.”

“Anonymously.”

“Yes.”

“Any particular reason for that?”

“Kind of,” I said.

He held up his hand to stop me. “It’s not our patch,” he said. “I need to phone the Stockwell lads. You’ll have to wait here for a bit, if that’s all right.”