‘What sort of business?’

‘I don’t know,’ Agatha said irritably.

The inspector turned back to Pearl. She shrugged. ‘Sometimes when we went up to London he would have an appointment at Prussia House,’ she said, adding smugly, ‘My husband knows some very important people.’

‘Prussia House?’ the inspector said softly. ‘That’s the German Embassy, isn’t it?’

‘What of it?’ Pearl snapped. ‘My husband’s business is my husband’s business,’ she protested. ‘He never took me there, if that’s what you mean. He would drop me off in Oxford Street to do some shopping, and then meet me later on.’

‘Hmm.’ The inspector looked unimpressed.

Agatha sat up. ‘Look here, Inspector. I don’t know what you’re implying, but my son-in-law was the equivalent of royalty back in his own country. A baron, no less. He had what they call a schloss in Berlin. That’s a castle, you know. Berlin Schlossplatz. It’s very well known, so I’m told. It was once the winter palace to all the old kings and kaisers.’

‘The Berlin Schlossplatz,’ Constable Cox spluttered.

‘I don’t suppose someone like you would have even heard of it,’ said Agatha cuttingly. ‘It dates back to the fifteenth century.’

The constable puffed out his chest. ‘Oh, I’ve heard of it all right, madam,’ he said. ‘My old dad talked of nothing else when I was a kid. He was in the Great War and stationed in Germany after it finished, and I can tell you now, your son-in-law, Mrs Herren’s husband, never lived there.’

Agatha’s face clouded. ‘How dare you! You jumped-up little so-and-so! What are you insinuating?’

‘I’ll thank you to tone down your language, madam,’ the inspector cut in.

‘I’m not insinuating anything, madam,’ the constable continued, ‘but your son-in-law never lived there because when Germany lost the war and the Kaiser abdicated, Berlin Schlossplatz became a museum.’

The room went very quiet.

‘And you’re sure of this, Constable?’ the inspector said.

‘As sure as I’m standing here, sir. My old dad never wanted to go to war. He was a pacifist at heart. For him, making a museum out of a palace was the best thing that ever happened to him.’ He turned to Pearl. ‘So you see, your husband never lived there, not unless he was the janitor’s son, of course.’

Agatha bristled. Pearl lowered herself into a chair.

‘Oh dear,’ said Lena, suppressing a grin.

‘And you needn’t look so smug,’ Pearl snarled. ‘There’s obviously been a mistake.’ She turned her head, muttering, ‘What would you know about anything anyway? You’re just a common gypsy.’

‘Now just a minute,’ Lena flared, but when Milly put her hand on her arm, she held back.

‘You make me sick,’ said Pearl, rounding on the pair of them. ‘Rubbing my nose in it just because you’ve got that cottage. I’m the oldest. It should have been mine.’ She tossed her head. ‘Well, you haven’t got it any more, have you.’

The inspector raised his hand. ‘That’s enough, ladies. There’s no need for a spat, but I am going to have to ask you all to come back down to the station for questioning.’

‘What, now?’ Agatha squeaked.

‘Considering the time of day,’ he began, ‘I think perhaps you and your daughter could come tomorr—’

‘It was you. You did it,’ Milly interrupted as she pushed up her glasses. She was staring at her sister. ‘You killed Nan and started the fire.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Pearl. ‘Why on earth would I want to kill Nan?’

‘You didn’t.’

With an exasperated expression on her face, Pearl threw her arms in the air and appealed to her mother. ‘Mummy . . .’

Agatha sat up straight. ‘Do we have to listen to this nonsense, Inspector?’

Milly looked at the puzzled faces around her. ‘She didn’t want to kill Nan. She didn’t know Nan would be there. That part was an accident. But she started that fire. I’d stake my life on it.’

Pearl scoffed. ‘You’re mad.’

‘So if she didn’t deliberately set out to kill Nan,’ Lena interrupted, ‘why did she hit her violently?’

Milly looked at Pearl steadily. ‘Because she thought Nan was me.’ Her sister didn’t flinch. ‘She was jealous of my inheritance. She wanted her revenge.’

‘Now that I think about it,’ said Lena, ‘Nan was wearing your old coat, so if she had her back to Pearl . . .’

‘I tell you, I wasn’t even here,’ Pearl protested angrily. ‘I was on my way to Harwich when the fire broke out!’

Milly turned away. Yes, she was right about that. Seebold had said when he and the fireman had talked it over, they’d all agreed that the fire must have burned for some time before anyone noticed, but the three of them – Agatha, Freddie and Pearl – would have left Findon hours before.

‘Did the firemen say how the fire started?’ Lena asked.

‘Not really,’ said the inspector. ‘I haven’t had the official report yet but there was some discussion that it might have been a childish prank gone wrong.’

‘I heard that,’ said Seebold.

‘Well, there you are then,’ said Agatha. ‘It can’t be one of us. It must have been someone from the village. We don’t have any children around here.’

‘Hang on a minute,’ said Seebold. ‘The arsonist didn’t need to have been here when the fire broke out.’ He looked directly at Agatha. ‘What if he – or she – had set up some kind of delayed fuse?’

‘And why would you say that, sir?’ said the inspector, his eyes narrowing.

‘Because I saw the firemen with a tin they’d found under the eaves,’ said Seebold. ‘I didn’t give it a thought at the time, but now it makes sense. You stuff some old rags in a tin with some linseed oil; give it a few hours to warm up, and poof!’

‘Well, that lets me out,’ said Pearl. ‘I wouldn’t know where to start with that one.’

‘I remember you mucking about with something like that when we were little,’ said Milly idly.

There was an ominous silence. Everybody stared at Milly. ‘Didn’t Daddy have an old book warning of the dangers of fire?’

‘What book?’ said Lena.

‘I don’t remember the name of it,’ said Milly, heading for the big bookcase, ‘but I’ll know it when I see it.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Pearl snapped, as she put herself between Milly and the bookcase. ‘Our old books were chucked out years and years ago.’

‘Oh my goodness,’ said Milly, pointing over her sister’s shoulder. ‘There’s that book of spells you used when we were kids.’