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something in that love potion after all?
    “I’ll just go up and get my coat.”
    Once in her room, Agatha unwound the scarf from her head, picked up the bottle of hair restorer and rubbed the lotion into the bald patches. If that love potion could make Jimmy smile at her again, then there might be something in the witch’s products. Then she wound the scarf round her head again, put on her coat, and went downstairs.
    “Aren’t you supposed to avoid socializing with suspects?” she asked.
    “I have a few hours off, and if anyone sees us, they’ll only think I’m grilling you for more information.”
    “Have you questioned the other residents of this hotel?”
    “The police have been taking statements from them all morning.”
    They went outside. The press clamoured to know if Agatha was being arrested.
    “No,” said Jimmy curtly. “And don’t follow us or you’ll get no more information out of me. And move away from the entrance of the hotel. I’ve already warned you.” But cameras clicked in Agatha’s face and a television camera was shoved in her face. Head down, and taking Jimmy’s arm, she walked with him along the promenade.
    He turned up one of the side streets and led her to a small café. There was a NO SMOKING sign on the door. Agatha thought that perhaps she should have asked the witch for a cure for smoking.
    They sat down at a table. Agatha picked up a small menu. The café specialized in ‘light snacks’. She ordered quiche and salad and Jimmy ordered a pot of tea.
    “So you were playing Scrabble with the other residents?” began Jimmy.
    “Yes, I told you.”
    “What are they like?”
    “I haven’t really got to know them that well. It was Daisy Jones who recommended Francie. She seems quite keen on Colonel Lyche, but he doesn’t notice her. He seems pretty set in his ways. Then there’s Jennifer Stobbs and Mary Dulsey and Harry Berry. What did we talk about? Well, Scrabble, letters, words. Nothing personal apart from ‘Would you like another drink, Mrs Raisin?’”
    “Did any of them leave during the game?”
    “Daisy Jones went to powder her nose but she used the downstairs loo. Colonel Lyche went to get drinks from the bar. So did Mr Berry. I don’t suppose any of them have a horrible past.”
    “We’re digging into it. Francie Juddle kept an appointments book. They all consulted her.”
    “Ah!” Agatha’s eyes gleamed.
    “Daisy Jones consulted her because she ran seances and Daisy wanted to get in touch with her late husband. The colonel has a liver complaint. Jennifer Stobbs asked for a love potion.”
    “Who for? I mean, who was she going to use it on?”
    “She insists it was for a friend. Mary Dulsey for warts, Harry Berry for rheumatism.”
    “What a gullible lot!”
    “You went to Francie yourself,” said Jimmy.
    “Did she have me in her book?” asked Agatha.
    “Yes, hair tonic,” Agatha heaved a sigh of relief. No mention of love potion.
    “But apart from the residents at the hotel,” Jimmy was saying, “an awful lot of the townspeople went to Francie.”
    “Did she make a good living out of it?”
    “Yes, I believe she was a wealthy woman, but we’re checking with her solicitor to see how much she left.”
    “What about family?”
    “She has a daughter, Janine, who will probably inherit and who may take over the business.”
    “It’s probably her.”
    “Doubtful. She visited her mother often and appeared very fond of her.”
    “Is she married?”
    “Yes, to a layabout called Cliff Juddle.”
    “Juddle! Did she marry her cousin, or what?”
    “Something like that. The Juddles are gypsies.”
    “So couldn’t this Cliff have bumped her off?”
    “Anything’s possible,” said Jimmy. “But folk say that Janine is a very bossy woman, very tough. If Cliff killed the mother hoping to get his hands on the daughter’s money, he wouldn’t have much of a chance. Janine holds the purse-strings.”
    “What does she do?”
    “Same as her