about that time.'
'So you didn't go out?'
'Yes, I was out.'
'What — taking a shower?'
'I was at the leisure centre. I go for a daily swim. I'm always in the water by seven, winter and summer.'
Unkindly, Bob found himself wondering if the hairpiece stayed on in the water. 'Breaststroke?'
'How did you guess?'
'And you never miss?'
'I can't remember a time when I did.'
'He's fitter than he looks,' Naomi said.
'Is there anyone who can vouch for you?'
'What do you mean — vouch for him?' Naomi said. You said a moment ago you had no reason to think he had anything to do with what happened.'
'But we're treating each of the men just the same,' Thomasine said.
'There are several other regulars like me at the pool,' Basil said, 'but we don't speak to each other. We just do lengths.'
'Don't you speak in the changing room?'
His lips formed a small circle, as if he was trying to whistle. 'It's not the thing to strike up a conversation with a fellow getting dressed. When I'm decent I might pass a few words.'
'They'd know you,' Thomasine said, 'so they ought to be able to give you an alibi.'
He still looked dubious. 'That may be so, but who's going to ask them?'
'You, initially. Then Bob and I would need to confirm it with them.'
'I don't care for that at all. I'd rather you treated me as a suspect if that's what this is about.'
'No, it's about eliminating you as a suspect.'
Basil gripped his gauntlet gloves. 'But I've no reason to harm you, Bob. I scarcely know you.'
'The way we see it,' Thomasine said, 'whoever set light to Edgar Blacker's house has reason to be worried that we're asking awkward questions. We think the arsonist set a trap for Bob.'
'I didn't kill Mr Blacker,' Basil said. 'He was perfectly civil to me.'
'I've seen the video,' Bob said. 'I think he was ready to offer you a contract.'
'Apparently.'
'But it was all a con. You know that, don't you? He'd have built up your hopes and then wanted you to put your hand in your pocket to fund the book, like he did with Maurice.'
'So I heard,' Basil said. 'It's deplorable. But I didn't know this at the time. I'm afraid I'm far too trusting.'
'You can say that again,' Naomi said.
'We didn't care for his ideas about publicising my book, opening our garden to the public,' Basil said. 'You can see the size of the plot. We're not equipped for visitors.'
And you don't even offer them a cup of tea, Bob thought. 'Had you ever met Blacker before he visited the circle?'
'He was a stranger to me.'
Naomi chose to come in again. 'It was obvious to me that he hadn't bothered to read my book on the witch trials. Even if he'd skimmed through the pages he should have realised where I stand on the question of witchcraft.'
You were disappointed?'
'Disgusted.' She pushed a lock of black hair away from her eyes. 'He had the idea I was a believer in occult practices. How anyone could be so mistaken is beyond me.'
'Witchful thinking,' Bob said, and immediately wished he hadn't. He got the fiercest glare yet.
Thomasine nudged the talk in another direction. 'You were one of the founders of the circle, Naomi.'
'What of it?'
'You and Dagmar and Maurice.'
'So?'
'How did you meet?'
Her features relaxed a little. 'On a coach trip to Stratford-on-Avon. Basil gets travel sickness, so he didn't come. I found myself sharing a seat with Maurice. Do you really want to hear this? It's rather gruesome.'
'How?'
'It turned out he was using the trip for research into one of his unsolved murders. He'd arranged with the driver to be dropped at a village called Lower Quinton, a few miles before Stratford. An old man was murdered there towards the end of the war and it was never cleared up. Maurice was visiting the scene.'
'For some local colour?'
Naomi shrugged. 'To be honest, I wasn't all that interested until he mentioned there were black magic associations. Warwickshire is notorious for that sort of thing. The man was found pinned to the ground by a hayfork through his throat, with the sign of the cross hacked into his chest.'
'Ugh!'
'I warned you it was gruesome.' Naomi carried on in a calm tone, 'It's a form of killing associated with the occult that goes back to Anglo-Saxon times. Any unfortunate suspected of having the evil eye was likely to be impaled in this way.'
'Ritual killing?'
'Yes. And there were local legends of a black dog. If the dog was seen, a death followed soon after. The victim himself saw it as a child on nine successive nights, on his way home from working in the fields as a ploughboy. On the tenth night his sister died suddenly — or so the story went.'
'Were there witches in the area?'
'Supposedly. The coven was said to meet at a stone circle nearby. Had done so for about three centuries.'
'And the murder was never solved?'
'Officially, no. But the policeman who investigated was certain he knew who did it. He was Bob Fabian.'
'The killer?'
Naomi's nostrils flared a little. 'The detective. Fabian of the Yard.'
'I've heard of him,' Bob said.
'Fabian believed a local farmer was responsible. Much of the talk of witchcraft originated with him. He was in trouble financially and he'd borrowed a large sum of money from the victim and couldn't repay it. He dressed the murder up to make it look ritualistic'
'Why wasn't he arrested?'
'There wasn't enough proof. He destroyed the receipts. No witnesses. He did everything he could to inflame the superstitions. After the killing, a black dog was found on his land, hanged, close to the scene of the crime. Fabian wrote in his memoirs that the case was unsolved, but he confided later that he was sure the farmer was the killer. The whole thing played to the local fears and legends, just as the persecutors of witches have done from time immemorial.'
'It makes a good chapter in Maurice's book, I reckon,' Bob said.
'I think he used it, yes. You were asking how we formed the circle. Maurice and I got talking about the books we were writing and what a happy discovery it is to find another author. On the drive home from Stratford we picked him back up at Lower Quinton and he sat with me again and the idea emerged of setting up a group. He already knew about Dagmar writing romances, and I said I could probably rope in Basil, so we agreed to meet Dagmar and see if she was interested. She was highly enthusiastic. I expect you noticed she idolises Maurice. The circle came into being over tea and cakes in the Bishop Bell tea rooms.'
'At the cathedral?'
'Yes. We had a table outside. It's easier to talk there without being overheard.'
'Good thinking,' Bob said. 'Mills and Boon, murder and witchcraft. Some ears would prick up.'
Thomasine smiled, but Naomi was unamused. 'Nothing of the sort was discussed. We talked about the practicalities of forming the circle.'
