‘We do the digging and he gets the pat on the back.’

‘It was ever thus in the police force.’

‘You could have been superintendent, if you’d really wanted the job.’

‘I like it the way it is, Joe.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, I’m serious.’

‘But it would have meant more money, more power and regular meals.’

‘It would also have kept me caged up in Scotland Yard, missing the dubious pleasure of your company. I’m good at what I do and I’ll settle for that.’

Keedy drank some tea. ‘How did you get on with Enid Jenks’s father?’

‘It was much as I expected.’

‘Did he refuse to believe that his daughter had deceived him?’

‘Yes, he did — and I had some sympathy with him there. It rattled him,’ said Marmion, pressing on quickly before Keedy could respond to the veiled reference to Alice. ‘He thought that Enid did everything that he told her and that she’d never developed a mind of her own. He knows differently now.’

‘Didn’t he have the faintest inkling that she was being hounded?’

‘No, Joe, he’s not the most observant of men. In retrospect, of course, it was another story. When I told him that Wylie had turned up at their church on one occasion, he said that he knew when that must have been because his daughter began to behave strangely one Sunday. She not only dragged him away as soon as the service was over, she held his arm all the way home and she hadn’t done that for years. When he asked if something was wrong, Enid said she felt unwell.’

‘It must have been a torment for her, suffering in silence like that.’

‘She just didn’t feel able to confide in him. By chance,’ continued Marmion, ‘Neil Beresford was there when I called. He’s made an amazing recovery. Last time I saw him, he was almost at death’s door. He’d come to see Jenks to discuss the letter they’d both received from Mr Kennett.’

‘What was their verdict?’

‘They’re both going to accept the offer.’

‘That’s very sensible of them.’

‘So is Mr Ingles, apparently.’

‘I remember him,’ said Keedy. ‘He threw us out of the house.’

‘We touched a sensitive spot, Joe.’

‘My memory of Mr Ingles is that he was a compound of sensitive spots. You had to be careful what you said. Talking to him was like walking barefoot over broken glass. Next time you go there, Harv, you go alone. There was one thing in his favour, mind you,’ he went on, unable to hide a smirk. ‘At least he didn’t think you were shifty.’

Sadie Radcliffe was in the middle of putting wet dungarees through the mangle when the visitors called. Drying her hands, she went to the door and opened it to a smartly dressed couple whom she’d never seen before. Brian Ingles introduced himself and his wife and asked if they might speak to her. Since the living room was full of baby things, Sadie was embarrassed to take them into it but she had no alternative. After waving them to the settee, she perched on a stool beside the fireplace. She noticed the quality of June’s coat and the pearl necklace at her throat. Ingles took control. Accustomed to giving orders at work, his question sounded more like a demand.

‘Have you come to a decision concerning that letter, Mrs Radcliffe?’

‘Yes,’ replied Sadie. ‘I have more or less.’

‘Then I trust that you had the sense to accept. That’s what my wife and I have done and I can speak for Neil Beresford, Shirley’s husband, as well. I talked to him earlier. I also know that Jonah Jenks is sympathetic to the idea because Reuben Harte told me when I went to see him today.’

‘Mr Harte is against it,’ said June.

‘I’ll persuade him,’ said her husband, testily. ‘I rarely fail to win people over to my viewpoint.’ He smiled condescendingly at Sadie. ‘May I take it that you’ll follow where we lead?’

‘Yes, Mr Ingles.’

‘It will simplify everything,’ said June.

‘It will also make it possible to set a date for the funeral,’ added her husband. ‘All I have to do is to get Reuben Harte on our side and the job is complete. The five victims can be interred together, as is only right and proper.’

There was an awkward pause. Sadie wondered if she ought to offer them some refreshment but held back because she felt that their tea service would be markedly superior to hers. When she did speak, she blurted her question out.

‘You’re the ones with the big house in Hayes, aren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ said June, smugly.

‘Agnes told me that you have a garden at the front and the back.’

‘It’s everything we ever wanted, Mrs Radcliffe.’

‘Though, actually,’ said Ingles, ‘we’re about to put it on the market.’

‘We can’t do that, Brian,’ urged June. ‘I love that house.’

‘So do I, my dear, but it’s far too large for our needs.’

‘I’d rather have too much room than too little,’ said Sadie.

‘That’s my feeling exactly,’ said June. ‘Besides, the house holds so many fond memories for us. I’d like to stay there indefinitely. My husband thinks that the place feels empty now that Florrie has died but she hasn’t lived there since she got married.’ She looked at her husband. ‘You never worried about it being too big when Florrie was alive. What’s changed?’

‘Need we discuss this here?’ he said, irritably.

‘I’d just like to know.’

‘Very well — I’ll tell you. What changed are the associations with the house. As you said earlier, it holds fond memories but they’ve been overshadowed by Florrie’s death. As long as we stay there, we’ll be reminded of it. I’m sorry, June,’ he went on, ‘I know it’s difficult for you to grasp but we have to get well away from there and make a fresh start. We have to build our lives anew.’

‘I wish I could do that,’ moaned Sadie. ‘I’d love to be able to sell up and move far away but there’s no chance of that happening. We’re stuck here for ever.’

‘I want to get far away from that confounded factory,’ declared Ingles. ‘And I want a smaller house that’s easier to manage.’

‘It can’t be much smaller, Brian. That would be intolerable.’

‘Leave this to me.’ He stood up. ‘Thank you, Mrs Radcliffe. I’m glad that the journey here has paid dividends. I can go back to Reuben Harte and tell him that he’s the fly in the ointment. He must accept the majority decision.’

‘I agree,’ said June, now on her feet.

‘God willing, I should be able to phone Mr Kennett later this afternoon to tell him what we’ve all decided. The funeral will be a harrowing experience for us all. If the five of them are buried at the same time, however, we can each draw support from others in the same unfortunate position.’

Sadie led the way. ‘I’ll show you out.’

She was relieved to get rid of them. June had been looking around the living room with polite disdain and Ingles had annoyed her by the way in which he’d taken the arrangements for the burial into his hands. Sadie felt that she hadn’t been given free rein to express her opinions. As she watched them going off down the street, she could still hear them arguing about whether or not to sell their house.

‘Who cares about your bloody house?’ she said to herself. ‘In case you forgot, Florrie died in that explosion with Agnes. How can you think about anything else but your daughter?’

Harvey Marmion felt that Leighton Hubbard deserved to know about the emergence of a suspect before he read it in the newspapers the next day. As a courtesy to the landlord, therefore, he and Joe Keedy drove to the pub in search of him. Repairs were still under way and the landlord was watching like a hawk. When the car drew up beside the pavement, he ambled across to it. The detectives got out and surveyed the scene of the bomb blast.

‘It looks very different now, Mr Hubbard,’ said Keedy.

‘They tell me that it will have to look worse before it looks better,’ said the landlord. ‘The scaffolding is there to hold the Goose up. They discovered cracks in the brickwork almost everywhere. The work will cost a fortune.’