Susan had told them it had once been part of a coach house. The building, here in Somerton, was of more golden tone than the one a few miles away in Matthews’ village of Walton, and Alec decided he preferred it. ‘If we bought a house down here,’ he told Naomi, ‘I’d want it to be of this stuff rather than the grey.’ Mr Cole was expecting them. A short, rounded man, slightly balding, he was wearing small rounded glasses that framed even smaller rounded eyes. He had a blob of a nose and a beam of a smile. He welcomed them into his office and bid them sit down. ‘Mrs Rawlins, Susan, has authorized me to give you every cooperation,’ he said. ‘So what can I do for you?’ He smiled at Alec. ‘I had a meeting with Inspector Blezzard yesterday,’ he said. ‘He seems to regard you as something of an interfering nuisance.’ ‘That sounds about right,’ Alec confirmed. ‘I do seem to be getting in the way – of someone, anyway.’ ‘Yes, he mentioned you’d been hit over the head.
