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modern life really. Seems strange, after all of you-know-what.’
    I did know what. The what that came to seem ‘normal’ during our time as VADs had probably sent us slightly mad.
    She punched my arm, a little too hard. ‘Do you remember the time when there were too many of us trying to get a billet in London for just one night …?’
    ‘Yes. And we ended up piling into my aunt’s house and Betty Turnbull sneaked down in the night and made a midnight feast of our breakfast.’
    ‘Betty Turnbull! Then she came back upstairs and snored fit to shake the roof …’
    We started to laugh. A rabbit dashed from the hedge and dared me to run it down. Another second and I would have had the makings of a fur muff but I swerved, barely avoiding the ditch.
    I restarted the car and chugged along sedately, enjoying the fresh air until we passed a farm where the workers were busy muck-spreading.
    ‘It makes such a difference when the sun shines! You live in a lovely area, Tabitha. I’d imagined it much more cobbles, chimneys and clogs.’
    ‘Oh we do that too. But we’ve some pretty spots nearby. Do you ride?’
    ‘Rarely. It wouldn’t be fair of me to keep a horse.’
    ‘We all ride. Mother’s a keen horsewoman.’
    Something in her voice hinted at a possible obstacle to our investigations.
    ‘Does your mother know I’m coming to stay, Tabitha?’
    ‘Y-e-s. Only, to be truthful, she doesn’t know why. I thought once she got to know you, I’d sort of raise the matter of finding Father in a day or so, when I mention what you do.’
    ‘I can’t work like that, Tabitha. I must have straight dealings. And if I’m to investigate properly, I’d need to talk to people. Naturally I’ll be discreet.’
    She reached out and touched the windscreen with her fingertips as if to deflect a shock. Her voice rose. ‘Other people?’
    ‘Yes. The local constable, and whoever else was involved. I’ll need a list.’
    The tips of her gloved fingers left tiny imprints on the now dusty windscreen. Her arms fell helplessly to her sides. ‘I suppose so. I hadn’t thought of that.’
    It struck me that she hadn’t thought of very much.
    ‘Time is of the essence. If you really want me to try and help, I must start straight away. I’ll need you to give me a photograph and a description of what your father was wearing, where he was last seen and by whom. What was his state of mind when he went missing, whether he had transport, what his possible destinations may have been. The more you can tell me about his interests, friends, acquaintances, business associates, the better.’
    ‘Yes I suppose so,’ she said flatly. ‘Mother won’t like it. Uncle Neville won’t like it. We can’t involve the business. He’d hate that. You don’t know what mill people are like, Kate. They play everything so close to the chest, never wash dirty woollies in public.’
    I thought perhaps I did have a notion of what they may be like given that it had taken Tabitha this long to confide in me and that she seemed daunted by the thought of how much information I would need.
    ‘Look, you don’t have to go on with this. I’ll come in, say hello to your mother, we can talk over old times and I’ll drive home in the morning.’
    She sighed deeply. ‘Can I talk now? Can you listen and drive?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘That little lane over there takes us on a byway and off the beaten track so that we come to Bridgestead the long way round. You drive. I’ll talk.’
    I was not entirely sure my supply of petrol would run to a detour. I pulled in by a five-barred gate. In the field beyond, a horse and foal grazed, the foal looking up at us.
    ‘I’m listening.’
    She fidgeted with her engagement ring. For a moment, it distracted both of us. I stared at a sizeable rose-cut diamond flanked by rows of glowing single-cut diamonds and with shoulder-mounted square-cut rubies, glinting in the afternoon sunlight. ‘I have to try to find Father before the wedding.