Murder Most Royal

He was supposed to be working from home, but he could have gone out and come back again.’

‘What about his sister?’ the Queen asked. She remembered Flora from the Christmas visit as the sibling with the vim. She had been the last person in the family to see him.

Rozie consulted her notes again. ‘I checked the reports for all the family, ma’am. Flora and her father were at Ladybridge Hall all day on the fifteenth.’

‘We know one more thing, ma’am. One of Katie’s knitting friends saw Mr Cassidy at the Feathers pub a few days ago.

He’d had a couple of glasses, and he was telling anyone who’d listen that he was the last person to talk to the victim, and that he’d shouted nonsense down the phone.’

‘Something about the scuffle, which Mr Cassidy said he’d already apologised for, and the promise that it would rain in hell. People were asking, and he said he had no idea what it was supposed to mean. If he was making it up, it was a strange thing to do. ‘I mentioned it to the chief constable and asked if we should be worried about him.

It seemed a reasonable enough question.’

‘I didn’t tell him about the car because, as I say, Julian had already reported it. Technically, they know as much as we do.’

‘Exactly,’ the Queen said. ‘If we have something useful to add, we will, but at the moment, we seem to be going around in circles.’

Rozie looked uncomfortable. ‘And unfortunately there’s a problem.’

‘Someone in Dersingham seems to have noticed Katie’s interest in Mrs Raspberry’s hit-and-run.

’

The Queen pursed her lips. ‘Oh, dear. What happened?’

‘They put a note through her letterbox late last night. It said that she’d been looking in the wrong place.’

‘Your name was never mentioned, though, ma’am. Hopefully, they’ll assume she was doing it for her own reasons.’

‘Hmm. Did they give any alternative suggestions?’

TRAGIC DEATH AT BURNHAM OVERY STAITHE

On the morning of New Year’s Day, the body of an elderly man, 79, was pulled from the sea near Scolt Head Island.

He was identified as Chris Wallace, the long-standing member of a wild swimming group called the Dix Dunkers. He had been trying to reach the island from the beach at Burnham Overy Staithe and succumbed to hypothermia in the freezing water.

The article went on to remind readers how exceptionally attractive the area was, and how dangerous it was to swim alone, especially in winter when the water was dangerously cold.

The Queen looked up at Rozie.