The Frozen Shroud

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Daniel slammed on the brakes as a car careered through the gloom towards him. He’d almost reached Ravenbank Corner, but the fog was lingering, and the hatchback’s lights were on. A man in a hooded jacket was hunched over the wheel, driving as if he were fleeing for his life. The car came to a shuddering halt a few feet short of his front bumper. Daniel recognised it as Quin’s VW hatchback. He reversed to a muddy passing place, and the hatchback eased forward before pulling up alongside him.

Quin wound down his window. ‘Sorry about that. My fault. Jeffrey keeps saying I’ll kill someone one of these days.’

He was striving for jauntiness, but his features were pinched and nervous. Did that shadow on his cheek hint at a bruise disguised by a touch of make-up? When he saw Daniel flinch, he said quickly, ‘Sorry, not in the best of taste after what’s happened. He means, we see so little traffic, I get careless.’

‘No worries.’

‘For goodness sake, I’d have thought you’d have seen enough of Ravenbank to last a lifetime. Let alone on a vile day like today.’

Daniel was in no hurry to satisfy his curiosity. ‘It’s autumn in the Lakes. Fog and rain are par for the course.’

‘Yeah, it lingers in Ravenbank, even when Martindale is bathed in sunshine.’ He sighed. ‘At least five years ago, we had closure. Craig Meek was dead within an hour of killing Shenagh. But the stuff happening now …’

‘What stuff?’

‘Robin tells me the police have carted Terri’s computer away. There’s a CSI and a family liaison officer at Fell View even as we speak. The police are picking through Terri’s stuff. God alone knows what they hope to find. He’s moved back in with Miriam to get out of their way. As for the journalists, they doorstepped the poor man until he agreed to give an interview. Disgusting, after he’d asked them to respect his privacy, to give him space to grieve. They didn’t take a blind bit of notice, the parasites.’

‘They’d say they are only doing their job.’

Quin narrowed his eyes, as if unsure where Daniel’s loyalty lay. ‘So what brings you back here?’

‘Melody invited me to lunch. I promised her I’d help research the Gertrude Smith case.’

‘Never mind a crime committed a century ago.’ Quin grimaced. ‘Have you heard the latest?’

‘What’s that?’

‘It’s been on radio and TV. The police have let Terri’s stalker go. Can you believe it? They wrapped it up in police-speak, but the bottom line is, the scumbag hasn’t been charged. Incredible, you couldn’t make it up.’

‘The police know what they are doing.’

‘You reckon? A polite young woman rang up half an hour ago, wanting to book appointments with Jeffrey and me for further interviews. “Just to clear up one or two points, sir.”’ He mimicked a Geordie falsetto with cruel accuracy. ‘The case is open and shut. What the fuck are they playing at?’

‘Your guess is as good as mine.’

‘Not really, my friend.’ Quin’s cheeks reddened, like a teenager with anger management issues. Was the Celtic charmer just one more part he played? ‘You’re the murder expert, on first name terms with the local plod. I saw you chatting to the fat chief inspector the day before yesterday, while they put the rest of us through the mill.’

‘I was questioned too, remember. If they have let Stefan Deyna go, there will be a reason. To do with gathering more evidence, I suppose.’

‘How much fucking evidence do they need? He did a runner, didn’t he? Everyone knew he made Terri’s life a misery. After they tracked him down to London, now they’re letting him walk out the door. It’s crazy, why catch a dangerous killer, and then let him loose again?’

‘They don’t confide in me.’ Well, it was more or less true. ‘So where are you off to in such a tearing hurry?’

‘To Keswick. Jeffrey and I intended to go together, but … we had a bit of an argument, and he went off in a huff. He’ll be at the theatre by now. We’re rehearsing this afternoon. The show must go on, and all that crap.’ Quin rubbed his cheek. ‘I’m worried about Jeffrey, badly worried. For once, I’d have been glad to hear his bloody awful snoring last night, but he didn’t sleep a wink. He’s still devastated after finding the body.’

So devastated, he’d vented his feelings by slapping his partner? ‘Sorry to hear that.’

‘The sooner the police lock that man up, the sooner we’ll be able to get on with our lives. If they keep on like this … nothing will ever be the same again.’

He wound up his window, and they set off in opposite directions. At Ravenbank Corner, the crime scene was still cordoned off with police tape. The fog was thicker here. Crawling towards Beck Cottage, he saw Robin Park, well wrapped up in Barbour and scarf, step out of the side porch, and raise a gloved hand in greeting. He pulled up on the verge by the low garden wall.

‘How are you, Robin?’

A grimace. ‘I still can’t believe what’s happened. It’s Mum I’m most concerned about. She thought the world of Terri. The shock has hit her very hard.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Oh, she’ll get through it. She’s a strong lady. A survivor.’ He clenched his fist, willing himself to believe. ‘Going to the Hall? You must be, there’s nothing else the other side of this cottage.’

‘Lunch with the Knights.’

‘I’m due to meet your friend this afternoon. Hannah Scarlett. What’s she like, by the way?’

‘A very good detective, that’s all I can say.’

‘How discreet! Come in, why don’t you? It’s freezing out here.’ As Daniel checked his watch, Robin added, ‘I’ll only keep you a moment.’

The interior of the cottage was cramped but immaculate. All the curtains were drawn, an old-fashioned mark of respect for the dead. Through an open door, Daniel glimpsed a neat kitchen dominated by a wood-burning stove. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted out, inducing pangs of hunger. Robin called up the stairs to his mother that they had a visitor, and led him into a low-ceilinged living room. Horse brasses and an embroidered child’s sampler from the nineteenth century hung on the wall, and a glass corner cabinet was filled with old sporting trophies, silver plate cups, and crossed hockey sticks made from gold resin. A dozen photographs stood on a mahogany sideboard. A single publicity shot showed Robin posing at a piano; the rest were assorted family snaps from his younger days, when his father was still alive. The male Parks bore a strong resemblance to each other, with their regular features and ready smile. Where they lounged, Miriam stood to attention. Her stolid features habitually wore an expression of wariness, as if she expected the camera flash bulb to explode in her face.

‘Mum’s been resting. She’s not as young as she was.’

‘I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have disturbed her on my account.’

‘No, she’d be mortified if I invited you in, and she didn’t show her face. Anyhow, she told me you wanted to know about that conversation she overhead between Dorothy Hodgkinson and Roland Jones. By the way, how is Hannah Scarlett coping? I’ve been dying to meet her, just never expected it to be in these circumstances.’

‘Terri will have told you all you need to know. She was much closer to her than I am.’

Robin raised his eyebrows, and Daniel felt his cheeks burn. What had Terri said about Hannah and him?

‘Terri’s not here,’ Robin said quietly, as Miriam Park came into the room. ‘Oh, Mum, there you are. How are you feeling?’

Miriam’s face was drained of colour and her shoulders had a stoop. She’d looked better dressed up as a witch.

‘What can’t be cured, must be endured.’ She gave a heavy sigh. ‘Hello again, Mr Kind.’

‘Daniel, please. It’s very hard, to endure the murder of two people you knew.’

‘I was very fond of Terri, you know.’ She sounded defiant, as though she’d suffered a personal injustice. ‘She and Robin could have been so happy together here.’

Robin put a hand on her shoulder. ‘And she cared for you, Mum.’

‘You were friendly with Shenagh Moss, as well?’ Daniel asked.

‘Oh, she was good company. The two of us were talking, the very day she died, about the Faceless Woman.’ Miriam bowed her head. ‘Shenagh didn’t believe in ghosts, but you have to wonder, don’t you?’

‘I’m still curious about what happened to Gertrude Smith. That conversation you overheard …’

She shook her head. ‘It was such a long time ago. Like I said, I can’t swear to exactly what was said.’

‘But — roughly?’

Her features contorted as she dug into the recesses of memory. ‘Mr Jones said something like … “Your mother didn’t kill Gertrude, we both know that.”’

‘And she agreed?’

‘Yes, I’m sure she did. That was really all there was to it. Miss Hodgkinson left a few minutes later. She was obviously upset, didn’t even stop for a chat with any of us. Normally, on her visits, she liked to have a conversation with the staff. If you ask me, she’d always had a suspicion that Mr Jones killed Gertrude, but no more than that. She couldn’t take it in.’

‘You didn’t get the impression that they both thought … Clifford Hodgkinson murdered Gertrude?’

‘What?’ Miriam’s eyes widened. ‘That never crossed my mind. I just assumed … well, I suppose you may be right. But we’ll never know now, will we?’

‘Sometimes the truth comes out, long after the event, and it’s not what everyone expected. The same may happen over the murder of Shenagh Moss.’

‘We all know who killed Shenagh,’ Miriam insisted. ‘That man Craig Meek, may God forgive him. I’m not just talking about Shenagh. He as good as put a bullet through poor Mr Palladino’s head, as well. To say nothing of poor Hippo.’

‘Hippo?’

‘Mr Palladino’s dog. Adorable, he was. Poor Hippo was getting on in years, and the shock was too much for him. The vet had to put him down not long after Shenagh’s body was found.’

One more victim, then. ‘What if there is a connection between Shenagh’s death and Terri’s?’

Miriam stared. ‘Impossible. It’s no secret who battered that dear girl to death. That vile Polish …’

‘We can’t fathom why the police have released him,’ Robin said quickly, as if to forestall a potentially racist rant. ‘I’m praying it’s just a temporary manouevre, that they’re playing for time while they make sure the case against him is watertight.’

Miriam passed a hand over her forehead. ‘It’s a nightmare.’

‘Mum,’ Robin said, ‘you need to get back to bed.’

‘And I need to get out from under your feet,’ Daniel said. ‘I’m sorry to have pestered you about what you heard from Roland Jones.’

Her face was ashen. ‘I used to feel sorry for Gertrude Smith, and her ghost, endlessly walking down Ravenbank Lane. She deserved justice, that’s what I thought. Now I’m older and wiser. It’s not the dead we need to worry about. It’s the living.’

‘You timed your arrival to perfection.’ Melody greeted him with a delicate kiss on the cheek. Her lips were cold. ‘The mist is clearing over the lake, though it’s only a temporary respite. Freezing fog is forecast for later on. I almost feel sorry for those journalists, shivering outside the gates.’

‘I used to live with a journalist,’ he said. ‘If she was here, she’d tell you not to waste your sympathy, it’s like commiserating with a school of sharks.’

‘Yesterday was surreal — a helicopter whirling overhead, reporters on a boat, taking photos of our grounds. Did they expect to spot another dead body, dumped in the old boathouse, or draped over the pergola? I thought they’d leave us alone today — we’ve told them everything we know. I took them a tray of tea and biscuits, to remind them we’re human beings, not creatures to gawp at in a zoo. And now, the police have phoned to say they want to talk to Oz and me again. Will it ever end?’ She closed her eyes for a split second, as if gathering strength. ‘Come on. Quick tour of the garden, before we eat?’

‘Thanks, I’d love that,’ Daniel said.

‘You can see where poor Letty is buried.’ She yanked a black Barbour waterproof jacket from a coat rack on the porch wall, and pulled on a pair of muddy wellingtons. ‘Some of our visitors think it’s creepy, having someone’s grave in the grounds of your house. To me, it’s sweet. This was where she and her husband and child expected to live happily ever after, before her mind started to give way. At least Clifford made sure that she would never have to leave her home. Whatever else, I respect him for that.’

‘Guilty conscience?’

‘Yes, he must have felt rotten about his affair with the girl.’

Melanie’s brow furrowed as she zipped herself into the jacket. Thinking about her own husband’s lapse with Shenagh Moss? Apparently, it hadn’t crossed her mind that Clifford might be a murderer as well as an adulterer.

‘Oz is due back soon,’ she said, as if reading his mind. ‘He’s spent the morning with our bank manager.’

‘Expanding the business?’

‘I wish.’ She locked the front door, and led him along a path which wound around the Hall. ‘This is between you and me, right? I’ve seen enough of you to know you can keep a secret.’

‘Sure.’

‘I hate to sound selfish, but this dreadful business about Terri has come at the worst possible moment. You’ve seen the newspapers, the TV bulletins?’ Daniel nodded. ‘Our names are all over them. People say no publicity is bad publicity, but that’s simply not true. Not when you’re running an events company, that is, and all of a sudden you find yourselves associated with a murder case. And this morning we hear that the Polish guy has been let out. Things are getting grimmer by the hour.’

The fog had cleared to allow them to see the bulk of Hallin Fell, looming up on the other side of the narrow strip of water separating it from the Ravenbank promontory, but patches of mist still obscured its upper reaches. Melody led Daniel under a pergola swathed in winter jasmine and honeysuckle, onto a paved area overlooking a fish pond, rose garden, and a huge spherical water feature made from stainless steel. Stepping stones meandered across a lawn cut in elaborate circular stripes before disappearing through an archway in a neatly clipped holly hedge.

‘Wow,’ Daniel said. ‘Even at this time of year, everything in your garden looks lovely.’

She sighed. ‘No expense spared, that’s our problem. Until August we had two gardeners working full-time. If things don’t look up, this time next year, I’ll be the one pruning the roses and feeding the Koi carp.’

Daniel murmured something vague and non-committal. Surely there were worse fates than pruning roses and feeding fish?

‘I tell a lie!’ she exclaimed. ‘We’ll be forced to sell the Hall before then, you wait and see. It’s what happened to Hodgkinson, all over again.’

‘Surely things won’t come to that.’

‘Oh, the economy is in such a dreadful state, I can’t see a way out. Don’t believe what you hear about recovery, people are still watching the pennies. Umpteen of the events we manage have been scaled down, others have been cancelled altogether. Oz asked you to speak on the Caribbean cruise, didn’t he?’

‘Yes, I …’

‘Well, forget it. We won’t be handling that contract after all. We heard this morning, we’ve been undercut on our tender. The truth is, the cruise line took fright because of what happened to Terri. Two other clients have cancelled their retainers. They come up with endless excuses, but it’s all about the murder. It’s done us untold damage.’

‘Nobody can sensibly blame you for …’

‘Business isn’t sensible,’ Melody hissed. ‘It’s stupid. Everything’s falling apart. We have two holiday homes abroad, mortgaged up to the hilt, and we can’t even sell them at a knockdown price.’

Her slim body was rigid with tension, and she looked to be about to dissolve into tears. He didn’t know what to say, a sure sign it was best to keep his mouth shut.

‘I’ve always hated it, to be honest. It wasn’t so bad when I started out as the hired help, with no responsibility except to schmooze the clientele. When you start worrying about whether the bank is going to renew your overdraft, fun goes out of the window.’

‘The Literary Lakeland conference was a huge success.’

‘Thanks, but we were hired for that job nine months ago. Business has been going down the plughole ever since. Why do you think I was desperate to get out? We found Terri’s salary by closing our office in Penrith, and running everything from here. It was never going to work, I see that now. When Terri announced she was leaving to go and live with Robin, it was a blessing in disguise. Otherwise we’d have had to make her redundant.’

‘I’m sorry. I had no idea.’

A bitter laugh. ‘Well, you wouldn’t, would you? In our line, it’s vital to keep up appearances. And we thought we managed that pretty well. Even Terri never guessed we were close to skint. It never rains but it pours. Now we can’t even host a small private party without having a guest battered to death at the end of it.’

The branches shivered in the wind, as if fearing for the owners of Ravenbank Hall. Melanie started down the low flight of steps to the lawn, and beckoned him to follow.

‘Watch your footing. The York stone is slippery when it’s damp.’ A brittle laugh. ‘You breaking your neck really would be the last straw.’

He followed her across the lawn. There were strict limits to his sympathy. He’d never forget discovering Terri Poynton’s ruined body, abandoned on a wintry night, for foxes and insects to do their worst. For Hannah Scarlett, Terri’s death was a personal tragedy, for the Knights, a flimsy excuse for financial headache caused by spending money as if it were going out of fashion.

Or was this all some huge kind of bluff? Making a fuss about the dire consequences of Terri’s murder to conceal the fact that Oz was guilty of it?

‘You disapprove of me, don’t you?’ she asked.

He dug his hands deep in his pockets. Melody might be naive, but she wasn’t stupid, and she didn’t lack intuition.

‘I’m not sure what you mean.’

Two strides short of the archway, she stopped in her tracks, and looked over her shoulder.

‘Be honest. You think I’m a spoilt woman, playing at one thing after another, because I’ve nothing better to do. At one time it was knitting, now it’s journalism. If my husband and I have run out of money, it’s our own silly fault for being so bloody greedy, and borrowing up to the hilt to renovate the Hall at the same time as trying to run a small firm in a dog-eat-dog business environment.’

‘What I think is this,’ Daniel said in a low voice. ‘Crimes of violence, most of all murder, harm everyone they touch. Not just the victim, and the victim’s family and friends. Witnesses, suspects, people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

‘Collateral damage, eh?’ she sighed. ‘The woman in charge of this case, your friend Larter, we met her when Shenagh was killed. She interviewed Oz and me. She didn’t like us, specially not Oz. If Craig Meek hadn’t been so obviously guilty, she’d have made our lives a misery.’

‘She was only doing her job.’

‘Oz isn’t a murderer!’

‘I never said …’

‘No!’ She held up a hand. ‘Don’t say any more. We’ve talked enough about Terri — and Shenagh. Let me show you Letty Hodgkinson’s last resting place.’

A weathered slate slab bore Letitia Hodgkinson’s name and dates, nothing else. It stood beneath a copper beech at the end of a neat gravel path laid between vast, dripping rhododendrons. Through the trees, Daniel glimpsed Ullswater’s inky depths. The wind was rippling through Melody’s hair and she had to keep brushing it out of her eyes.

‘When we bought the Hall, this was a jungle. Nobody would believe it if we hadn’t kept before and after photographs.’ She waved in the direction of Hallin Fell. ‘The old boathouse is over there, can you see it through the trees? When we came here, it was a ruin, in need of complete restoration. Now it’s Oz’s pride and joy, he loves to go out rowing on his own. As for poor Letty’s headstone, it was invisible. Covered by a mass of bindweed and brambles.’

‘Looks like Clifford tucked his wife’s grave as far out of sight as possible.’

‘The poor, poor woman,’ Melody said. ‘Coming here, and wondering about what drove her to kill Gertrude, set me thinking about whether she’d suffered a terrible injustice.’

‘I promised to tell you what I discovered about Dorothy and Roland. Not that it explains what happened to Gertrude.’

She listened with lips slightly parted. It was difficult not to feel flattered when an attractive woman hung on your every word, but Daniel did his best. Her loveliness was just another mask. He still couldn’t figure her out. Shallow and self-absorbed, selfless and smart, or subtle and scheming? Or simply a mass of baffling contradictions?

‘Fascinating,’ she breathed. ‘You’ve discovered so much in twenty-four hours. I suppose that shows the difference between a professional and a dilettante. I didn’t know where to start. I just want to find out what happened here a hundred years ago. When we met, it was simple curiosity. Now, after Terri’s death, and all the angst about money, it seems like a lifeline. Something to take my mind off … all the other crap.’

‘The conversation Miriam overheard proves nothing,’ he said. ‘There’s no proof that Letty didn’t kill Gertrude. I’d love to know what her suicide note said. If she knew Clifford had murdered Gertrude, and she was determined to cover for him …’

‘How could she go so far — however much she loved her husband? I know I wouldn’t take the rap for Oz.’ She flushed, and added hastily, ‘Not that I’d ever need to.’

The wind stung Daniel’s cheeks. He kept quiet, content to let her talk.

‘I mean, even when he picked up penalty points for speeding on the M6 that meant he lost his driving licence for six months, he knew better than to ask me to pretend I was behind the wheel. He has his faults, but he’s no bully. Anyway, I simply wouldn’t do it. He had to pay his dues.’

‘Things were different a century ago.’

‘I guess so. Letty had mental health issues. It must all have become too much for her. Perhaps she simply couldn’t face living, knowing her husband was an adulterous killer, and that everything was about to fall apart. Whatever the truth, I’m grateful to you, Daniel.’

She switched on a smile, as sudden as it was ravishing. He recalled that before her marriage, she’d not only been a model, but also an actor. ‘I needed you to show an interest, to convince myself I wasn’t simply romanticising about Letty because she and I had stuff in common.’

So she identified with Letty Hodgkinson. Two women married to men with a wandering eye. Two women whose rivals had been beaten to death with raw and unforgivable savagery.

‘You’re frowning,’ she said. ‘Not convinced? It’s true, I’ve been so much luckier than Letty. But … I know what it’s like to feel suffocated by depression, as if a thick towel is pressing down over your nose and mouth. I know what it’s like to go to bed hoping you won’t wake up the next morning.’

Above the trees, a buzzard squealed. A squirrel that didn’t want to become its next meal scampered down an oak trunk, and vanished into the safety of the undergrowth.

‘I had a very rough time in my teens. I can’t bear to go into details, but it was horrendous, I promise you.’ Her voice had dropped to a whisper, and he had to move closer to hear. ‘My uncle was sent to prison for what he did, and I had a lot of problems. Partly physical — I was pretty messed up, and I can’t have children. But the doctors were wonderful, and a fantastic social worker helped me regain confidence.’

If she’d kicked him in the stomach, he couldn’t have felt worse.

‘Melody, I’m so sorry.’

‘Oh, shit happens. I was never going to make the big time as a model or an actor, but the work helped me escape from the past. Start a new life.’ She drew breath. ‘Yet I never quite got over my habit of getting mixed up with untrustworthy men. Trust me, compared with his predecessors, Oz is a saint.’

Daniel heard screaming. The buzzard was being mobbed by a gang of hooded crows intent on defending their territory. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to tell who was the predator, who the prey. He glanced at Melody’s profile. Heedless of the birds, she was staring towards the lake. Barely holding herself together. He had to stifle the urge to put his arms around her. The silence between them was uncomfortably intimate.

‘There you are, darling!’

Oz Knight was standing in the archway. A man with more to worry about than the weather, to judge by his gaunt appearance. In the past couple of days he’d aged ten years. That once-magnificent mane of hair was flapping in the wind, straggly and grey. Perhaps he’d had too much on his mind to remember to dye it.

His wife groaned. ‘Oh God, back to reality. Come on, Daniel. Time for lunch.’

‘Hannah — a word?’

Les Bryant’s dour features never betrayed emotion, but his voice had a scratchy quality that Hannah hadn’t heard before. She nodded, and he followed her into her room, closing the door behind them with exaggerated care.

‘Terri was a decent kid,’ he said. ‘I know how much she meant to you. And you to her, believe me.’

‘Thanks.’

She tried to decipher his inscrutable expression. In one of the least likely romantic pairings conceivable, Les had once gone on a blind date with Terri. Once and only once, needless to say.

‘She told me you drove her crazy, forever doubting yourself. Her opinion was that you were wasted on Amos. Reckoned you’d do far better with Ben Kind’s lad.’

‘There you are, then.’ She tried to keep her voice steady. ‘Poor old Terri, she had no idea.’

‘You’re wrong,’ he said. ‘She was a smart lady. No good for me, obviously. Too young, too good-looking, too bloody dizzy. We’d have killed each other within a week. Tell you what, though.’

‘Go on.’

He cleared his throat. ‘Before we did kill each other, I’d have enjoyed that week more than any I can remember.’

Daniel swallowed the last of his casserole and said how much he’d enjoyed it. His host and hostess had only picked at their own portions. It was as if Terri’s murder had robbed them of their appetites.

‘Credit where it’s due,’ Melody said. ‘This is Miriam Park’s recipe. Such a wonderful cook. Francis Palladino used to say she was worth her weight in gold. She’s in a bad place at the moment. Robin, finally on the brink of settling down with someone, and then …’

‘You think his relationship with Terri was strong enough to last?’ Daniel asked.

‘Why not? You only had to spend five minutes in their company to see they were very much in love. He was besotted, and so was she.’

‘Miriam jumped the gun about their getting married,’ Oz muttered. ‘Wishful thinking, if you ask me. Terri was a sweet lady, but she’d already divorced three husbands, and Robin’s never come close to tying the knot. They’d only known each other a few weeks.’

‘You proposed to me a fortnight after we first met,’ Melody said.

‘And you turned me down flat.’ Oz turned to Daniel. ‘Not that anyone could blame her, with the age difference and everything. Took a long time to wear down her resistance.’

‘I never planned to marry the boss,’ Melody said. ‘It just worked out that way in the end. For better, for worse …’

‘For richer, for poorer.’ Oz grimaced. ‘Definitely for poorer after this morning, I’m afraid.’

At Melody’s confession that she’d told Daniel about their financial problems, he’d flinched, as if she’d poked him in the eye, before rallying with a tirade about greedy bankers and the havoc they’d wreaked on the world’s economy. As well as on the Knights’ prospects of keeping their business afloat. The overdraft facility had been renewed this morning, but on punitive conditions. He feared the stay of execution was only temporary.

‘How will you put things on an even keel?’ Daniel asked.

Oz spread his arms. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. Neither of us has taken a wage out of the business since April; we’re living on our investments, and they are shrivelling fast. The situation’s out of my hands, that’s what I hate. We need to stop the haemorrhage of clients and revenue. And pray the police get their finger out, so we can start putting our lives back together.’

Daniel concentrated on Melody’s rum-and-raisin pudding. Oz was a control freak, and he’d yet to meet a happy control freak. Was that need to be in charge a source of tension in their marriage?

‘I can’t believe they let that man go.’ Oz drained his third glass of Rioja, and raised his voice a little, as he warmed to his theme. ‘Terri was scared stiff of him, we were concerned for her safety, like any decent employer. She said he’d beaten up his wife, and hit the woman so hard she was lucky not to lose an eye. Someone like that shouldn’t be roaming the streets.’

Daniel said, ‘The police will be working night and day on the case. Don’t forget, Terri was best mates with one of their senior detectives.’

‘And she’s a friend of yours,’ Oz snapped. ‘How does she feel about letting loose the man who almost certainly killed her friend?’

‘No one wants justice for Terri more than Hannah.’

‘Justice!’ It was almost a snarl. ‘Then I wonder why she let-’

‘Hannah isn’t part of the investigating team.’ Daniel fought back a rising anger. ‘It wasn’t her decision to release the man.’

Oz said, ‘This uncertainty makes people think there’s no smoke without fire. None of us can relax.’

He poured himself and his wife yet another glass of wine. Daniel was glad he’d stuck to orange juice. With a touch of malice, Oz added, ‘Even you must feel uncomfortable, Daniel. You were at the party with the rest of us.’

‘I feel worse than uncomfortable,’ Daniel said quietly. ‘I liked Terri, though I didn’t know her well. I’d like nothing better than to see whoever did this put behind bars.’

Melody forced a laugh. ‘Before long, rumours will start flying that everyone who came to the party was in it together. Like that film, you know, on the train.’

‘Robin and Terri didn’t quarrel, did they?’ Daniel asked. ‘Is there any reason for him to worry about the police?’

‘None whatsoever,’ Oz said wearily. ‘She was vivacious and good-looking, but — how can I put this? — more mature than Robin’s previous girlfriends. At least those I’ve met.’

‘Did any of them last long?’

‘Nope, there was never any question until now of Robin settling down with someone, far less setting up home somewhere new. But if you ask me, he’s scared stiff. When one person in a relationship is killed, the other partner inevitably comes under the spotlight.’

‘Better take special care of me, then, darling.’ Melody’s smile was strained, her voice cracking. Daniel frowned; she was too close to the edge for comfort. ‘We’re deep enough in the shit as it is.’

‘Fern’s right, if you ask me,’ Les Bryant said. ‘I don’t believe that bastard killed Terri.’

He and Hannah were taking a quick bite of lunch together in the staff restaurant, Les feasting on a bacon, egg and sausage bap while she dipped her wholemeal toast in a pot of hummus.

‘What makes you so sure?’

‘Think about it. It’s clear he was set up. Two women killed in identical circumstances, five years apart? Why would he try to repeat history, what would he have to gain?’

‘And your preferred solution is?’

He chewed furiously. ‘We both knew Terri. The murder victim’s personality is the biggest clue to the motive for the crime.’

‘It doesn’t say that in the Murder Investigation Manual.’

‘No, but it bloody well ought to.’

‘I’m not sure I like the idea that Terri brought her own murder upon herself.’

‘You’re a DCI, and your mate’s been beaten to death,’ he growled. ‘You can’t afford to be prissy about this. I’m not saying Terri was killed because of anything she did consciously. Maybe it was because someone had reason to be afraid of her.’

‘Where are you going with this?’

He wiped the runny egg from his grizzled chin. ‘She was a livewire, right? Into everything, like a little kid.’

‘Yes.’ That was Terri’s gift, her boundless enthusiasm, her love of life. ‘She was incorrigible.’

‘What if her curiosity led her to find out something she wasn’t meant to know?’

‘Such as?’

‘Suppose she stumbled on a clue to what really happened at Ravenbank five years previous? Something that pointed the finger at one of her new neighbours?’

‘She’d have told someone, wouldn’t she? Me, for example. She was hiding something from me, yes, but it was the fact that she’d teamed up with this man Robin Park. Daniel and Louise say she was just very happy, looking forward to a new life with him.’

‘What if she didn’t appreciate the significance of what she’d learnt? Whoever killed Shenagh Moss would have to move quick, to get her out of the way before she tumbled to the truth. Park’s stomach bug was a gift, it offered the chance to get Terri on her own late at night, when she’d had too much to drink.’

Hannah smeared margarine on her last piece of toast. ‘Maybe it’s worth someone taking a look at the paperwork on Shenagh’s death.’

He reached into his inside jacket pocket, and pulled out a dog-eared notebook. ‘Mission already accomplished. Just as well I got in quick, given that Fern’s team have just requisitioned the old file. Well, it’s a cold case, any road, so I thought I’d make a few notes on the SIO’s Blue Book, and the investigators’ rough books. Take ’em, for what they’re worth.’

She stretched out a hand. ‘You’re a star. Though I guess you’ve broken half a dozen of Lauren’s rules about information security.’

‘With any luck.’ The craggy face relaxed into a rare grin. ‘What’s the worst that can happen? She’s already given me the sack. That’s why I leaked the restructure to the press. Just on the off chance it might save the jobs of everyone else.’

Oz saw Daniel to the door after Melody announced she felt a migraine coming on, and was going upstairs for a rest. At the front step, Oz halted.

‘I’m worried sick about her, you know.’

Daniel mumbled something bland and sympathetic, but his host interrupted. ‘Don’t be fooled by that cool elegance, underneath she is fragile. Long before we ever met, she had a spell in a psychiatric unit. It was to take her mind off our money worries that I encouraged her interest in writing, and the legend of the Frozen Shroud. Big mistake. It’s backfired horribly.’

‘If-’

‘No!’ Oz raised a hand. ‘Let me finish. You and she are never going to prove Letty’s innocence, not after all these years. An ancient murder is the last thing Melody needs on her mind right now.’

‘Yet she could be right about Letty.’

‘What if she is? Who cares?’

Daniel gave a shrug. ‘If someone can be cleared of committing a brutal murder, even long after their death, isn’t that worth caring about?’

‘So you are persisting with this?’

‘Why not? This afternoon, I’m going to Keswick Museum. Roland Jones donated some papers to their archives. I’m hoping to pick up more information about him there.’

‘Letty was sick. If she hadn’t killed herself, she’d never have hanged, not even in Edwardian England. Doesn’t what happened to Terri make what happened years ago seem pretty trivial?’

‘Any historian believes the past can tell us something about the present. Take the murder of Shenagh Moss.’

Oz stiffened. ‘What has Shenagh’s death got to do with anything?’

‘Three women have been battered to death in Ravenbank.’

‘Over a period of a hundred years!’

‘Two of them in the past five. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to suspect there’s a connection.’

Oz strode out into the drive, and Daniel followed to where his car was parked.

‘Far-fetched, if you ask me. Copycat killings are commonplace. Craig Meek hated Shenagh because she’d dumped him, and killed her because of it. End of.’

‘If the obvious suspect has been released from custody, the police are bound to cast their net wider. When you talk to them, I’m sure they will be asking questions about Shenagh. What was she like, did anyone else hate her?’

‘Hate her?’ Oz exhaled, and Daniel smelt the alcohol on his breath. ‘Listen, I’ll tell you something about Shenagh. You’ll have heard that she and I were close? It wasn’t exactly a clandestine affair. She was funny, clever, a vibrant personality. Fabulous to look at, and even better in bed, I don’t mind saying it. It was a miracle old Palladino never had a heart attack. But she had a hell of an appetite, there was no way the old feller could keep her satisfied.’

‘But your relationship with her didn’t last long?’

‘Melody and I — we’ve had an understanding from day one. She knows what I’m like. When she finally agreed to marry me, we both signed up to the deal. We’re a good team, she’s a sweet lady, and utterly gorgeous into the bargain. But she’s had a hard life … look, we’re both men of the world. She’s a lady to look at rather than touch, if you get my meaning.’

‘She said your flings never last for long. And she did seem pretty relaxed about them. But — was Shenagh different?’

Oz bent his head, and Daniel noticed a bald patch on the crown. Until today, he’d always combed his hair with such care that you couldn’t see it.

‘Shenagh had a low boredom threshold. Once she’d reeled Palladino in, she didn’t need me. An ongoing affair with a married man was a complication too far. She wanted fresh fields to conquer.’

‘Did she find them?’

‘You bet.’ Oz chewed his lower lip. ‘It was insane, but …’

A gust of wind smacked the trees; soon there would be no leaves left on the branches. A crow yelped and flew out from its hiding place in a copper beech. Daniel watched it circle overhead for a few seconds before it headed for the lake.

‘Did she become involved with Quin?’

Oz Knight stared at him. ‘Jesus Christ. How did you know?’