‘No problem,’ said Sharon as she headed towards Edgar Ellis’s door with his weekly dinners.
Kate stood for a moment inside the door. There was a stale smell in the air and the place was in darkness, due to all the curtains having been pulled across. She walked quietly into the kitchen, conscious of the fact that Cornelius Crow was directly next door and might hear her every move.
She had a quick look in the bin which had, of course, been emptied. There’d be little point in checking the bins outside because they’d almost certainly have been emptied at least once since Edina’s death. What had she expected? It was a crazy idea to begin with.
Kate was still chiding herself as she opened the door of the built-in fridge. There was nothing whatsoever in there. Nothing. Someone had obviously cleared it out.
The freezer section was underneath and it had not been emptied. There was a drawer half-full of vegetables and fruit, a drawer with some packets of mince and chops, and a drawer containing two ready meals from ‘Fresh-as-a-Daisy! Fernfield Farm Foods’.
Kate removed them from the freezer and carried them across to the window. She opened up the blind and studied the meals: one cannelloni, one shepherd’s pie. She wished she’d brought a magnifying glass, but her reading glasses would have to do.
She turned the containers over and over and it took several minutes before Kate found what she was looking for. She saw it first in the plastic base of the shepherd’s pie.
A series of tiny pinpricks.
She examined the cannelloni again and it took another couple of minutes before she was able to discern another row of minuscule pinpricks in that too.
Kate took photos with her phone in the hope that, if she enlarged them, the pinpricks would be visible. She then placed both meals back in the freezer and let herself out of the flat.
Nine
Kate wasn’t sure how Woody might react to the idea of her snooping around in Edina Martinelli’s flat. He’d most likely go on and on again about not getting involved, but she was desperate to tell him of her discovery.
She took a deep breath. ‘I think I’ve found out how the poison was administered.’
Woody stared at her over the rim of his glass. ‘What has Miss Marple deduced this time?’
Kate decided to ignore his mocking tone. She told him about her meeting the man from Fernfield Farm Foods as she was leaving the Potters’, and how he commented on the length of time the meals could remain on the table before they were collected. ‘And then I made a visit to Edina’s flat,’ she said.
‘Oh yes? And how did you manage to get in there?’
‘Well, I had to tell a tiny white lie,’ Kate admitted.
‘And…?’
She told him all. ‘I’ve taken photos, but the pinpricks are so tiny they hardly show up,’ she said.
He was silent for a moment.
‘So,’ he said eventually, ‘you reckon someone injected digoxin into the meals while they were awaiting collection on the hall table?’
‘Yes, digoxin or some form of digitalis. That’s what I think,’ Kate confirmed.
‘You should have gone straight to Bill Robson,’ he said. ‘This could be important.’
‘I wanted to tell you first,’ Kate said. ‘And I don’t like that man.’
He smiled. ‘You were very naughty going in there under false pretences, you know. Bill’s likely to ask you about that.’
‘Then I can tell him that I went in to look for my thermometer,’ she said.
‘And you thought it might be in the freezer?’
Kate grimaced. ‘I suppose I’d just have to remind him about my suspicions then.’
She hesitated. ‘I honestly don’t want to set eyes on him again. Couldn’t you tell him, Woody?’
Woody shook his head. ‘No, Kate, it has to come from you. Would you like me to come with you? I’m not working up there tomorrow, but if you need my support…’
She shook her head. ‘I know you mean that kindly, but if I must go, then I think it best that I don’t involve you.’
‘Promise me you’ll go to the police station first thing in the morning?’
‘I will,’ Kate promised.
‘So who did you say you were visiting up there today?’
‘Daisy and Violet Potter,’ Kate replied. ‘They were such sweet old ladies, absolutely identical! And, would you believe, they used to have a draper’s shop in Middle Tinworthy where, they assured me, all the local ladies bought their knickers.’
‘A draper’s?’ Woody looked bewildered. ‘Remind me what that is?’
‘They were shops that sold mainly ladies’ clothing in the days before you were allowed to browse around, and there was a lady behind every counter waiting to find out what you wanted and to serve you.’
‘So, women’s clothing outlets?’
‘Something like that. You don’t hear the word used much now.’
‘You sure don’t. I’ve heard of knickers, though!’
‘It’s Demelza’s Boutique now.’ As Kate gazed into the flames she wondered if she should inform him that one of the old ladies referred to the stepson and his supposed quest for money. Perhaps not; he’d only tell her not to get involved. But she was involved! And the twins obviously resented Edina getting the flat they wanted. But surely not enough to kill her?
Kate looked round the book-lined room. She had never seen so many books outside of a library before and wondered if he’d read every single one of them. Woody had two walls of his sitting room shelved from floor to ceiling, groaning under the weight of books, not to mention the bookcases on the upstairs landing and in his bedroom. It was a masculine sort of house with few ornaments and lots of pictures of boats on every spare wall surface. It was comfortable and homely, but hardly Homes and Gardens.
Kate suddenly decided she would tell him what the Potter twins had said.
‘And they reckon that Edina Martinelli was having no end of problems with her greedy stepson. They were earwigging from the garden.’
‘Don’t tell me they’re amateur sleuths too!’ Woody raised an eyebrow as he
