CHAPTER TWO

I told all this to Inspector Ford when I was eventually summoned to the caravan, a few minutes after Daniel had been escorted out of it into a waiting police car. It was obvious we weren't going to be given a chance to talk to each other until the police had taken our separate statements. I saw the car drive off as if they were taking him away.

'Where is he going?' I demanded, as soon as I got inside the caravan.

'My officer is giving him a lift into Ashburton.' Inspector Ford smiled as he gestured for me to sit. 'I'm sure you'll catch up with each other later.' The inspector is unfailingly polite, even if, like Daniel, he disapproves of my sleuthing activities. But then, I have helped him catch a few criminals.

The caravan was snug inside. He and I sat on opposing banquettes with the put-up table between us, trying not to nudge each other's knees. He listened to me in thoughtful silence, arms folded across his broad chest, as if he was trying to make himself as small as possible. Detective Sergeant Christine deVille, a.k.a. Cruella, sat beside him and scratched away on her notepad. Dean Collins and one of the uniforms had already been despatched to Langworthy Hall in search of Amber. She wasn't answering her phone.

'This text you received about the car being moved,' the inspector asked, 'you're sure it came from Miss Horrell?'

I pulled my phone from my bag, found the message and showed it to him. He studied it for a moment. 'Thank you. Now, as far as you could tell, when you talked to her on Monday evening, she seemed happy enough? She didn't strike you as at all worried or upset?'

'Quite the opposite. She seemed happy and eager to chat, at least until the phone rang. She took a call from her Uncle Peter .'

'Peter Horrell?' the inspector cut in. 'He's related to Julian Horrell, a cousin I believe,' he explained to Cruella, 'carries on the family firm.'

'Well, she accused him of checking up on her,' I went on.

The inspector grunted. 'Probably with good reason.'

'Oh?'

'Shall we just say Miss Horrell is not unknown to us.'

I waited, hoping he was going to explain further, but he just said, 'Carry on, Miss Browne,' so I did.

'The conversation on the phone seemed to be about selling something. It was really more of an argument.'

'You didn't find out what was for sale?'

'No. Except whatever it was, Amber seemed adamant she didn't want to sell it. Then, soon afterwards, we heard the noise from upstairs.'

'Which you're convinced was caused by someone up there?'

'I don't believe it was a ghost,' I told him frankly.

Cruella took the opportunity to look up from her notepad, flicking back her bob of dark hair and favouring me with one of her killer glares. I smiled sweetly.

'Tell me, once she had delivered the car here yesterday,' the inspector went on, oblivious of our silent exchange of mutual loathing, 'would it have been possible for her to walk back to Langworthy Hall?'

I nodded. 'It can't be more than a couple of miles.'

'She wouldn't have needed a lift then, someone to drive her back there?'

'Not unless she was in a hurry.' I hesitated for a moment. 'You're wondering if there was someone else with her when she delivered the car?' I thought for a moment. 'What you're really asking is whether she could have put that body in the boot on her own, aren't you? Or whether she would have needed an accomplice.'

The inspector gave me one of those long, searching stares which I try not to find intimidating. 'Is that what I'm asking you, Miss Browne?'

'Well, if that is what you are asking .' I'd started digging a hole, so I thought I might as well keep going. 'Then the answer is no. I wouldn't have thought her big and strong enough to heave the weight of a dead body into the boot on her own.' The truth was, I was having difficulty imagining Amber murdering anyone, let alone driving a car two miles with a dead person in the back. The alternative was that she might be a victim too. I was having difficulty with that as well.

Inspector Ford cleared his throat. 'Thank you for your observations, Miss Browne. And when you arrived here yesterday morning and saw the car parked outside, there was nothing about it to arouse your suspicions?'

'No. There was no one else around. And the car looked just as it had when I'd seen it on Monday evening. Of course, if I'd looked in the boot .'

Cruella's voice cut in sharply. 'Why did Mr Thorncroft phone you this morning, immediately after he'd phoned us?'

'Well, obviously, to tell me what he'd found,' I said, puzzled by this change of direction. 'And because I was the one who purchased the car. He knew you'd want to speak to me about it.'

Her little mouth twisted. 'It wasn't so you could get your stories straight?'

I bit back a laugh. Cruella and I detest each other and she loves to make insinuations. I think she fantasises about seeing me in handcuffs. It seems her resentment also extends itself to Daniel because he and I are lovers. 'Are you accusing him of something? Or just me?'

'It's alright, Miss Browne, you don't have to answer that question,' the inspector assured me with a weary sigh. 'Sergeant deVille was just indulging in a flight of fancy, weren't you, Sergeant?' He directed a glance at her from beneath his heavy brows and her tiny mouth shut like a trap. His phone rang at that moment and he pulled it from his pocket.

'Collins,' he informed Cruella. 'Any joy?' He listened in silence for a moment. 'No sign of her? Right, well get yourself inside there, Collins. We have to assume Miss Horrell could be in some danger. Break in, if you have to.'

He disconnected and shot a glance at me. 'Thank you, Miss Browne. That's all the information we need from you for the moment. You can go. Apologise to Mr Thorncroft once again, for his having to cancel his meeting with his builder.' He nodded through the caravan window in the direction of the Bora and the blue tent the forensic team were constructing around it. 'I'm afraid an inspection of the renovation work on his farmhouse won't be possible just now.'

I had to find Daniel. He wasn't answering his phone. I drove Van Blanc back from Halsanger Common, down the hill and past Belford Mill, an odd, wedge-shaped building local people call 'the coffin house', and back into Ashburton. At Great Bridge I crossed the little river Ashburn and turned right, passing a row of old weavers' cottages and The Victoria Inn, now sadly defunct, and on into North Street. The pavements were busy with shoppers, knots of small children and dogs on leads.

Daniel didn't have a key to get into my flat, so it was unlikely he would be waiting for me back there. I took a detour into Sunflowers, the café owned by my landlords, to see if he'd turned up there, but neither Kate nor Adam had seen him, so I drove around to Shadow Lane.

He wasn't waiting outside Old Nick's either. Unfortunately, Ricky and Morris were. My old friends kept a clothes rail in my part of the shop, and had come to replenish their display of vintage clothing, bits and pieces from their vast stock of costumes they could no longer hire out for theatrical purposes. They were also the last people you wanted to bump into when you had information you should keep to yourself. As I parked Van Blanc, Ricky's tall, rangy figure unfolded itself from their old Saab. It was almost an antique itself. 'What sort of time do you call this to open a shop?' he demanded, grinning.

I didn't answer, just headed for the shop door with the keys in my hand. It was locked. Sophie must have set off for Cardiff already. Ricky began pulling garment bags from the back seat of the car. 'You been lying about in bed with that bloke of yours?' he called out, just loud enough for the whole of Ashburton to hear. 'I suppose we're lucky you're opening at all.'

I love Ricky, but there are times I could kill him and this was one. 'You are lucky, as a matter of fact.'

Morris came puffing after him, his short arms clutching bags trailing scarves and feather boas. 'Take no notice of him, Juno,' he recommended, shaking his bald head.

'Sorry, I got delayed.' I unlocked the door and flipped on the lights. 'There's a problem with Daniel's car.'