recall the wording you just read out. If you hang on, I’ll check to be certain. We keep a copy of everything.’ In under five minutes she was back. ‘No, it was definitely done by another printer. We don’t usually give out the names of our rivals, but in this case… ’
Hen noted them. ‘And while you’re on the line,’ she said to Gemma, ‘has your friend Rick ever spoken to you about the Selsey mammoth?’
‘The what?’
‘A mammoth was excavated in 1987.’
‘What’s it got to do with Rick?’
‘I’m wondering if he took part in the dig.’
‘All those years ago? I doubt it. I’m sure he would have boasted about it. You know what blokes are like. Jake’s the expert on things like that. He’s a fossil-hunter.’
‘True, but he wasn’t on the dig. What about you, Gemma? You were local. Did you volunteer?’
‘Me? I was only fifteen in 1987. Simon Le Bon grabbed me more than bones on a beach.’
‘Duran Duran? Didn’t they cover “Watching the Detectives”?’
‘Hey, you’re a new romantic.’
She tried the other local printers. No one remembered taking on the work. The fancy invitation wasn’t the clincher it had promised to be. If that bloody man Sentinel had found the envelope it came in, the whole investigation might have been over by now.
There was real danger of aquaplaning in several places where the road dipped between Mid Lavant and West Dean. Jo slowed and hoped she wouldn’t stall. The A286 runs alongside the River Lavant all the way up to Singleton, and there are sections where it can easily burst its banks. Fortunately everyone seemed to be treating the conditions with respect and she covered the six miles to the garden centre without mishap.
Karen from the sales staff was the only one there.
‘Any damage?’
‘Nothing serious that I’ve noticed,’ Karen said. ‘Some leaking from the roof where the glass blew out the other day. We’ve lost a few winter pansies, and that’s about it.’
‘Have you called Adrian?’
‘Not yet. Should we?’
‘He was practically having kittens when he called me an hour ago. I’ll give him a call now.’
At mid-morning, Hen called Stella for another progress report on the search at the Bosham house.
‘Like I said, we started upstairs. The main bedroom,’ Stella told her. After the Apuldram fiasco she was going to miss nothing. ‘The quilt was turned back for airing. Some of her clothes on a chair. Nightdress hanging in the bathroom. I get the impression she had a night’s sleep and got up and had a shower.’
‘Have you checked the pool area?’
‘Not properly.’
‘Do it next. According to Rick, she was in the habit of taking an early morning swim.’
‘Rick. What does he know about it?’
She updated Stella on the Sunday lunch routine.
Stella whistled and said, ‘He really had it made. Do you think he killed her?’
‘I’m taking this step by step. Have you looked for signs of a recent meal?’
‘There’s nothing obvious. If he was here, everything is cleared away. It’s extremely tidy. We’ll start our search of the kitchen shortly.’
‘Look in the fridge for the remains of a roast joint. And I expect there’s a dishwasher. See if that’s loaded. Oh, and be sure to check the rubbish, too.’
Stella wouldn’t normally need to be told. She may have felt she was being picked on for the past error. Hen wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
There was no complaint from Stella. She promised to call back shortly.
Adrian said he was ‘mightily relieved’ to know that the pansies were the only casualties. In his state of euphoria he suggested that Jo close at midday.
She passed on the good news to Karen.
‘Great,’ Karen said. ‘To tell you the truth, I found it quite eerie being alone here before you arrived. It’s weird, getting spooked by a garden centre, but I actually came out in goose pimples. I’ve never been here on my own before today. I was so pleased to hear you drive up.’
‘Yes, the place has a different feel to it,’ Jo said. ‘We haven’t even got Miss Peabody stalking us round the aisles.’
‘I can do without her,’ Karen said, grinning. ‘She lives up the road in Singleton, doesn’t she? Poor old soul, she’s probably under four feet of water.’
Singleton is the downland village where the Lavant first makes itself apparent. This sometime river (so benign in the summer months that it dries to an empty ditch) has its source in nearby East Dean. Serious flood problems affect the village in a specially wet winter because of a spring known as the Fountain, fed by another valley from the north.
Jo’s conscience stirred. ‘She’s my friend’s aunt. Maybe I should check and see if she’s all right.’
‘I expect the emergency people are doing that,’ Karen said. ‘You might get in their way.’
‘I don’t know. I think I owe it to Gemma to take a look. I could take the old lady some milk and bread from the Down Tools. They won’t be using any today. Luckily I put my wellies in the car in case I got stranded. I think it’s the first cottage you come to. We can see it from here.’
‘You can also see the flood water,’ Karen said. ‘Rather you than me.’ She laughed. ‘If you spot a pink hat floating past, you’d better give up and come back.’
Stella was quick to phone back. ‘I checked the kitchen, guv. The dishwasher had been emptied. There is a large joint of beef in the fridge.’
‘Hey, that’s what I needed to know,’ Hen said.
‘Uncooked.’
‘What?’
‘Looking at the sell-by date, it’s probably still okay. It doesn’t smell off.’
‘So she was expecting to cook.’
‘That’s for sure. There are fresh parsnips and carrots, greens, a marrow, and a packet of runner beans.’
‘Rick told the truth about that, then. She didn’t cook his Sunday lunch. She must have gone before then. She was probably dead.’
‘I also looked at the pool area, as you asked, and there’s one of those white bathrobes made of towelling.’
‘Where?’
‘Draped over a lounger, plus a spare towel.’
‘Flip-flops?’
‘Yes. Beside the lounger.’
Hen’s thoughts were in overdrive. ‘Stella, listen carefully. Don’t touch anything else. I want the pool area taped off as a crime scene. Get the white zipsuits out to the house as soon as possible. I’m almost certain she was drowned in her own pool and moved to Apuldram.’
‘The body was moved? Why?’
‘Shift the corpse and you shift the suspicion. We assumed the killer was Cartwright. Big mistake.’
TWENTY-FOUR
Rick’s solicitor had delayed as long as he reasonably could and now the so-called voluntary statement was
