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halted. ‘Now we have to go through the whole thing again because that silly fool of a Coroner was too afraid to rule she was murdered by someone unknown.’
    They were standing by the Daimler, waiting for Constable Philpott to bring Churchill outside. ‘Do you blame the Coroner?’ Taylor asked. ‘If he’d given in to the hostility in that room, he’d have named the Major-General as Mrs Luard’s killer.’ 3
    ‘He’d have listened to a Scotland Yard detective,’ Warde said irritably.
    Taylor gave an amused laugh. ‘You think so? I got the feeling no one was being heard. Besides, I didn’t want to reveal too much to the newspapers. I saw a couple of reporters from the London rags in there.’
    ‘They’ll write what they like anyway.’
    ‘Indeed, but we’ve a better chance of finding Mrs Luard’s rings if the culprit thinks we suspect the Major-General.’
    ‘You’re hoping he’ll pawn them?’
    ‘If he’s stupid, he will. If he’s not. . . he’ll have tossed them into the nearest river.’
    * * *
    Unsigned letter addressed to Major-General
Luard, Ightham, Kent – received by the evening
post on Wednesday, 26 August 1908:
    WE ALL KNOW YOU SHOT YOUR WIFE.
    YOUR FRIEND THE CHIEF CONSTABLE
CAN’T PROTECT YOU FOREVER.
    YOU DON’T DESERVE TO LIVE.
    DO EVERYONE A FAVOUR.
    KILL YOURSELF.

Chapter Seven
    Despite all their efforts in the days following Caroline Luard’s murder, the police made little progress in finding her killer.
    Henry Warde, the Chief Constable of Kent, took the lead in searching the county for armed vagrants and men sentenced by Major-General Luard in his role as Justice of the Peace. The Chief Constable also dispatched teams to check the pawn shops and go house-to-house seeking anyone who had seen strangers in and around Frankfield Park on the day of the crime.
    Inspector George Hamble was tasked with taking a close look at the Major-General’s story. It seemed even more solid after a couple of woodcutters came forward to say that they too had heard gunshots in Frankfield Park at 3.15. But Henry Warde wanted every aspect of his friend’s alibi checked in order to clear him.
    What was the shortest time that Charles and Caroline could have walked to the summer house from their home, Ightham Knoll? Was there a shortcut that Charles could have taken from the summer house to Hall Farm? Was there any evidence he’d recently bought or borrowed a revolver? Or had contact with a hired assassin?
    After days of work, all Hamble was able to say was that no one, however fit, could have reached Hall Farm by 3.20 if the shooting happened at 3.15. He had looked at the possibility that the witnesses had heard different gunfire – someone out game hunting perhaps – but the timings didn’t work for that either.
    ‘At a very fast walk, the Luards could have reached the summer house by 2.30,’ he told the Chief Constable. ‘And if Mrs Luard had died then, the Major-General could have run to Hall Farm by 3.20, but—’ he broke off.
    ‘But what?’
    ‘I can’t see why his wife would agree to it. She knew the Major-General’s plan was to go to Godden Green for his golf clubs because the housemaid heard them discussing it over lunch. What reason could he have come up with for taking her at a fast trot to the summer house first?’
    The Inspector had had no better luck trying to unearth whether the Major-General had purchased a revolver or dealt with a killer. ‘I can’t be certain that neither of those things happened,’ he went on, ‘but none of the Major-General’s staff believes he wanted his wife dead. One of the maids, Jane Pugmore, told me she never heard a cross word between them in the six years she’s worked at their house.’
    ‘What about these rumours that Caroline was unhappy?’
    ‘It depends who you listen to. According to Jane, Mrs Luard shed tears whenever she was reminded of her son. He died abroad and she never had a chance to comfort him.’
    ‘What do other people