"I'm just moving into a house in the area," Gemma heard herself saying. "With a garden."

"Geordie's a sweetheart. Owner's taken him through several levels of obedience classes. Do you have kids?"

"Two boys. Twelve and four."

"Perfect. Look, why don't I bring Geordie along to meet you one day this week? I've got your number from the other day- I'll ring you and make arrangements."

"But-" The chime of the front door cut Gemma off, and with a pang of regret, she realized she'd allowed herself to be maneuvered into a corner.

"Gavin," said Bryony, "this is Inspector James from the police. She'd like to have a word with you about Dawn Arrowood." Was there a touch of satisfaction in her voice?

Turning, Gemma saw a short, stocky, dark-haired man, his appearance made more solid by his white clinical tunic. He hung his overcoat on a peg, then faced her. "Such a tragedy. I couldn't believe it when I heard it on the news." He shook Gemma's hand warmly, but the glance he gave her was shrewdly assessing. "Anything I can do to help."

"Is there somewhere we could talk, Mr. Farley?"

"Come into the office, why don't you?" Gavin Farley ushered her inside, then closed the door of the small space, which contained a desk and files. Gemma slipped notebook and pen from her bag.

"Was Mrs. Arrowood a regular client, Mr. Farley?"

"More than regular, you might say. Her husband wouldn't allow her to keep the cat in the house, so the animal was always getting in scrapes- and coming off the worst in them, I suspect. Every few weeks he'd be in with an abscess, a torn ear, an infected eye. Not that we minded seeing Dawn, of course."

"Did you know Mr. Arrowood, as well?"

"No. He never came in with her, even the few times the animal was badly hurt. Seemed rather an unsympathetic character, if you ask me."

"And did you ever see Dawn outside the clinic?"

"No. I live in Willesden, so our paths weren't too likely to cross." If Farley was aware of any inference other than a casual social encounter, he disguised it well.

"And on Friday, did you notice anything unusual in her behavior?"

For the first time, Gemma sensed hesitation. "She did seem a bit more upset about the cat than usual, although it was a minor injury. In fact, I remember asking her if she was feeling all right."

"And?"

Farley's eyes flicked towards the door, then he looked back at Gemma and shrugged easily- too easily. "She said she was fine. Thanked me for asking, in fact. I still can't believe she's dead, or that someone would do such a terrible thing."

"I'm sure it must be difficult for everyone who knew her, Mr. Farley. So why do I have the feeling you're not telling me the truth?"

"I've no idea what you're talking about. Why would I lie about such a thing?"

"I don't know," answered Gemma. "But I can assure you I will find out."

Kincaid allowed the worst of the Monday-morning traffic to die off before he and Doug Cullen signed out a Rover from the Yard motor pool and headed north. Cullen drove, giving Kincaid the luxury of observing the London morning's ebb and flow. Daybreak had brought fitful sun, but Kincaid suspected the break in the weather would not hold.

They picked up the M1 just south of Hendon and were soon bypassing the cathedral town of St. Albans. "Didn't you tell me your family was in St. Albans?" Kincaid asked his companion. "It looks a nice place."

"Suburban hell," Cullen replied with a grimace. "Bridge nights and dinner circles and absolutely sod-all to do if you're under the age of forty. I can't imagine that my parents not only chose to live there, but considered it a great accomplishment."

"Still suffering from a bit of rebellion, I take it?"

Cullen glanced at him, as if to ascertain whether he was being teased. "I assumed most people felt that way about their parents' lifestyles."

"I don't know," Kincaid mused. "I rather envy my parents theirs. But twenty years ago, I couldn't wait to put the dust of the provinces behind me."

"And now, would you go back?"

"To live, maybe. To work in a small-town police force, after the Met- Now, that would be a bit more difficult." Kincaid thought again of taking Gemma and the children to Cheshire, sometime soon- perhaps this summer, to show off the new baby. His mum and dad were beside themselves with anticipation.

City and suburbs dropped away, revealing the rolling, winter-bleached farmland of Herefordshire. The power of the English countryside to assert itself never failed to amaze Kincaid, although he knew all too well it was more than ever under siege.

By mid-morning they had reached Bedford, a pleasant county town with a generous share of parks and the Great Ouse River running through its center. Eliza Goddard lived along the Embankment in a comfortable, semidetached Victorian house, a far cry from the tiny flat her mother had occupied above her shop in Camden Passage.

Goddard answered the bell quickly, calling back over her shoulder to quiet her children. Kincaid saw her surprise as she turned back to them, then the unconcealed mixture of wariness and distaste. "You've come about my mother, haven't you?" She did not invite them in. "Have you found out something?"

"Not exactly, Mrs. Goddard. But we would like to speak to you, if you could spare us a few moments," Kincaid said, at his most diplomatic. This woman surely had no reason to look fondly on the police: They had not only given her the terrible news of her mother's death, but had failed, after a lengthy investigation, to find her killer.

"All right." She said it reluctantly. "Just let me get the girls settled in the kitchen."

As Kincaid and Cullen followed her into the sitting room, Kincaid wondered, as he had the first time they'd met, about her parentage. Marianne Hoffman had been a slight, fair-skinned woman- her daughter had the lovely café-au-lait coloring and dark eyes indicative of mixed race. The twin daughters Eliza was shepherding into the kitchen took after their mother, each with dark hair neatly plaited into two pigtails.

"Let's get some colored paper, and you can make paper chains for the Christmas tree," he heard Eliza say. A moment later she rejoined them in the sitting room.

"How old are your daughters?" Kincaid asked her.

"Five. Going on fifteen." Eliza rolled her eyes, but her smile was indulgent.

"Identical?"

"Yes. All the child psychology books say you shouldn't dress them alike, but the authors apparently didn't consult my girls. They throw fits if I try to put them in different outfits. Maybe next year when they start school…"

Sensing Cullen's impatience, Kincaid gave him a quelling glance. "You've a great place here," he told Eliza, admiring the room's soft sage-and-cream paintwork and fabrics. Woven baskets held the children's toys neatly, and although the furniture looked casually worn, Kincaid suspected it was valuable. Gesturing at the oak sideboard, he said, "Eighteenth century?"

"Yes. My mother's passion, eighteenth-century farmhouse furniture. She never bought it to sell; she said that would've taken the joy from the hunt. But she loved finding these pieces for me, and she's the one put the room together." Eliza sat down at last, and Kincaid and Cullen followed suit.

"She traded only jewelry in her shop?"

"Oh, sometimes she'd take in a table or a lamp, but she preferred to stick with the small things." Eliza brushed at her skirt and finally met Kincaid's eyes. "Look, what is this about?"

"I'm afraid there's been another death," Kincaid answered. "Similar to your mother's. But this time in Notting Hill- the wife of an antiques dealer."

"I don't understand. What has that to do with me?"

"There might be a connection."