Patience disappeared into the rhododendrons, on the trail of a rabbit. Ash was quiet. There was nothing unusual about this. But Hazel was learning to read his silences as you might read another man’s body language. Sometimes he was silent because he was thinking, sometimes because he didn’t want to think. Sometimes he was silent because there was nothing he wanted to say, and sometimes because there was nothing he could say. This was a thinking silence. Hazel slowed her stride to match his. “You’re wondering what happened to Jamie.” Ash nodded. “Yes.” “Do you think Diana killed him?” He didn’t answer immediately. Then he shook his head. “No. I think she’d have said so if she had. There’s a vein of adamancy in that woman. I don’t think her pride would allow her to hide behind a lie. She probably doesn’t fancy doing time any more now than she did thirty years ago.” “I don’t think that’s why she lied then. I think she was protecting someone else.” “Henry?”
