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inspector but this gaudy peacock of a man. Lauren realised she had led a sheltered life, and had grown up in a protective Middle England bubble which had shaped her expectations of others.
    ‘If you want to come upstairs, I’ll show you my kit, after I’ve lugged it back up there. Give me about half an hour, and I’ll have a glass of that wine, too, honey. Entertaining’s a thirsty business.’
    His wife poured him a generous glassful, which he downed like it were water, then went to open yet another bottle. ‘You didn’t think you’d get an early night, did you?’ she asked her new friend. ‘Once he’s shown you his kit and let you have a go, he’ll want us to play the duet again so that he can busk a piano accompaniment to it.’
    ‘I had no idea you were so interested in music.’
    ‘What good would spreading that abroad do in our job? Someone would only find a way to ridicule my interest, and they’ve got enough to work with, with my rotund figure and my … casual dress sense – not to mention my name.’
    ‘You don’t sound very bitter about it,’ said Lauren, bemused by the DI’s relaxed attitude.
    ‘While they’re having a go at me, they’re leaving somebody else alone. I’ve got the skin of an elephant as well as the figure to go along with it. What they don’t know is that I also have the memory of one, and I’ll get my own back at some unspecified time in the future. I’m just biding my time for now.’
    A loud holler from upstairs interrupted their discussion, and Olivia led Lauren upstairs to play with her husband’s second-favourite toys.
    After half an hour of drum demonstrations, and a quasi-lecture about how the instrument had evolved and attempts at playing the drums herself, Hal finally bellowed, ‘Where’s that bottle of wine? And is there any of that stew left? Me stomach thinks me throat’s cut. Chop chop, woman. You’re starving your husband to death, not to mention giving him a bad case of lack of booze.’
    The three of them went back downstairs, glasses were filled, and Hal served himself a plateful of the remains of the supper, eating it standing up without bothering to reheat it. As he ate, he began to tell Lauren about his parents, and why they’d left the cottage.
    ‘They were both dentists, working on the NHS and privately. They bought this place when they were first working here and it was in a bad state of repair. Gradually they renovated it, and when it was finally finished, the opportunity arose for them to retire.
    ‘They moved back to Barbados. That was years ago – I’m an only child – and they seem to be quite happily settled there. I can’t really see them coming back, but we’re keeping the home fires burning in case they have a sudden urge to move back to the grey and rainy climes of Britain.’
    ‘Fat chance of that happening,’ his wife commented, heading towards the kitchen with a corkscrew in her hand, her gait a little unsteady.
    As she returned with yet another bottle of wine, Lauren asked a little tentatively, ‘I don’t see any signs of your children. I understood you had two.’
    Olivia sighed deeply as she filled their glasses again. ‘We do. Hibbie decided to leave school, much to our disappointment as we wanted her to go on to university. She’s now doing a course at college, an admin qualification, and has a job a little further along the coast. Benjamin has just started at college. We just didn’t go into their rooms when we were upstairs and, to be honest, they’re hardly ever at home these days. They’re sixteen and eighteen, by the way, Ben’s the elder.’
    ‘What’s Hibbie short for?’ asked the sergeant, not being able to unravel the source of the diminutive in her slightly befuddled state.
    ‘Hibiscus Flower. Don’t look at me. It’s was his mother’s idea, not mine.’
    Hal smiled at this comment, and his booming laugh filled the room. ‘If we hadn’t named our daughter after her suggestion there would