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coming home to marry me. Then she suddenly becomes all ill and helpless. Flora’s letters have been few and far between just lately and when they do come they are all about Canada and not about us. I was very upset at first, but I’m beginning to accept the inevitable.’
    â€˜You’ve never thought of going to Canada yourself?’
    Tom gave Amos a lop-sided, mirthless smile. ‘I don’t think I would be welcomed there by Lady Hogg and her family, do you? Besides, I enjoy what I’m doing here.’

    Tom had been instrumental in arresting Lady Hogg’s youngest son on criminal charges and, although they were eventually dropped due to the family’s influence in the county, the incident created such a scandal that the son involved was forced to leave the country and go to Canada where the family owned a great deal of land. Tom knew he could never go there – not even for Flora.
    â€˜Well, you must come to the house and discuss it with Talwyn. She said I was to invite you to dinner tomorrow anyway. You can speak to her then.’
    Amos’s wife, Talwyn, taught school but she was very supportive of her husband and his work and he would often discuss particularly difficult cases with her. Amos wished Tom had someone like her with whom to discuss his problems. He felt the sergeant was becoming an increasingly lonely man.
    â€˜I would like that,’ Tom replied. ‘Flora was very fond of Talwyn, but I believe it’s too late for any suggestions about our future.’ Suddenly despondent, he changed the subject abruptly. ‘Anyway, I have an idea we are going to be working on this case for longer than any of us would like. We’ll see what Morgan has to say tomorrow.’
    On the way to the two-bedroom annexe of a house close to the Launceston police station which he shared with Horace Halloran, the Cornwall Constabulary’s sergeant major, and a fellow ex-Royal Marine, Tom thought of his conversation with Amos.
    When Flora had left Cornwall for Canada, he had been very unhappy and after she had informed him she could not foresee a return in the immediate future, he had considered going to Canada, despite the problems he would face there. However, Flora’s letters became fewer and when they did arrive were full,
not of a life together, but of the vibrancy and excitement of being in a new, young country and he gradually realized he was probably never going to see her again.
    Once he accepted this he felt less guilty about allowing his work to dominate his own life and in consequence was now able to go for many days at a time without thinking about her.
    Â 
    When the two policemen reached Trelyn the following morning Tom went on to the Hall to speak to Horace Morgan, while Amos decided that before he interviewed anyone else he would pay another call on Jemima Rowe. He found the ex-Trelyn Hall housekeeper making bread in the kitchen of her cottage and was not surprised to learn she had heard of the discovery of Kerensa’s body and the disappearance of baby Albert.
    Digging her knuckles into a mound of dough being kneaded on a dusting of flour scattered upon the scrubbed table-top, she commented, ‘I’m not one to speak evil of the dead, but if ever a girl brought about such a violent end to her own life, it was Kerensa Tonks.’
    â€˜That may be so,’ Amos agreed, ‘but she did not deserve such a death – and the baby certainly never harmed anyone.’
    â€˜Then he’s assured of a place with the Lord … although he might not be dead. It could be that he has found a good life right here on earth – and that’s more than he could look forward to with his mother.’
    â€˜What exactly do you mean by that?’
    The ex-housekeeper’s thin-lipped mouth clamped shut as though to indicate she had said enough, but Amos persisted. ‘Do I need to remind you this is a murder case, Jemima?’
    From the cross