‘But you – where did you go? And why? And when?’
‘I went early, before the others were up, because I was sick of the way Digby was fixating on Bronya. I caught him sneaking around the back of our house, with some gadget that can magnify voices. He was listening to her in her parents’ living room, even though he tried to deny it at first.’
‘A listening device?’ said Thea, feeling very clever at even knowing the phrase.
‘Right. You plant a little box somewhere and you can hear everything it hears, through your phone. Incredibly simple and very sneaky. I was furious with him. He thought I’d never find him out there – we hardly ever go round the back,’ she added.
‘Okay. So you stormed out because of that?’
‘It was his manner. He told me it was none of my business, nothing that would affect me, and I would do best to just forget the whole thing. Well, how would you feel? Nobody likes to be told something like that, do they? I stewed all night, and decided I should drive off to my friend to cool off.’
‘You went to a friend?’
‘Winnie,’ she nodded. ‘She’d been inviting me for ages, and it seemed the perfect solution. But she’s awfully hard work. Never stops talking. So I gave it a day and then headed home again.’
‘That was Thursday evening?’
‘Right – I think. The days are all a bit of a blur now. There was no sign of Digby or the dog, and Ant fast asleep in his bed. I thought Digby must have taken Percy out for a late stroll – it was a nice moonlit night – so I went looking down by those woods. The dog heard me and came lolloping up, but no Digby. I didn’t dare shout, for fear of annoying the landlord. The woods are nice, you see, because they’re shielded from the bloody security lights that are on all the time round the houses.’
‘Okay,’ said Thea, visualising the scene. ‘Then what?’
‘Then I heard sounds. Heavy breathing, rustling undergrowth. Percy was all alert but not especially disturbed. We tiptoed towards the noises and I saw two people lying on the ground in what looked like sexual congress – as the police kept saying. I took them to be Digby and Bronya, although I realise now that I hardly saw anything that could identify anybody. I was furious, and went charging back to my car, determined to leave him once and for all. Then I bashed into a wheelbarrow that was under a tree, and tipped it over. Percy was under my feet at the same time, and he got hurt somehow. He yelped, and I was scared of being caught, so grabbed his collar and got us both back to the house without being seen. I’d left my car down by the road, which I often do, to save having to wait for the gate to creep open. It’s quicker on foot – and I hate having everything I do caught on the rotten cameras. We figured out that a person on foot can stay out of its sight, you see. Anyway, I shoved Percy into the house and ran back to the car. Winnie wasn’t best pleased to see me back at midnight, I can tell you.’
‘And you stayed away all over Christmas,’ said Thea, trying not to sound reproachful.
‘For my sins. I took Winnie out to a hotel for lunch, and we played about fifteen games of Scrabble, and watched an awful lot of mindless television, and I tried to psych myself up to leaving Digby and getting a nice little flat in a town somewhere. I figured if he was having it away with Blackwood’s stepdaughter, I couldn’t trust him even to be on my side any more. It made nonsense of the whole ghastly business.’
‘Your feud with the landlord, you mean?’
‘Right. I’d just had enough. So I phoned Ant and said as much. Something about Digby being dead to me – which he misheard, apparently. It was a bit melodramatic, I know, but that’s how I was feeling at the time.’
‘I’m not sure I follow the timing. Was it all pre-planned by Bronya and Digby together?’
‘I really don’t think so. It all came to a head when Rufus accused me of stealing that necklace, at the same time as Digby heard things getting more and more nasty for Bronya. It’s not really such a coincidence that the three of them ended up in the woods at the same time on Thursday night. Digby knew what Rufus was up to, and seized the moment.’
‘When did you first know that Blackwood was dead?’
‘Must have been Boxing Day, I suppose. When I phoned Ant again. I couldn’t work out where that fitted in the scheme of things, and by then I knew I’d have to go back and explain myself. And I was a bit worried about Percy, as well. And I think you know the rest. It wasn’t Digby rolling on the ground with Bronya – but Blackwood. And she was resisting him, not enthusiastically co-operating. It is quite hard to tell in the dark, you know,’ she added defensively. ‘And I still don’t know where Digby was. Behind a tree, I assume.’
‘Apparently Digby heard you knock the wheelbarrow over. He set it right again and ran back home without it. Maybe Bronya saw him and somehow got Rufus subdued enough to use the equipment to electrocute him.’ She hesitated. ‘Does that sound even remotely feasible to you?’
‘Not really. She’d have to have been miraculously quick-thinking. Ant thinks she probably saw Digby arriving with the
