‘She’d have found out about your weekends away with the horses,’ said Liz to Ffion. ‘And the fact Neville went to Rotary on a Friday.’
‘She’d also have worked out she could disguise the living room to look like her studio,’ put in Pat. ‘So she was all set. Your typical primary school practitioner.’ She smiled grimly. ‘Planned up to the hilt.’
‘I think if you ask Caro Miranda,’ continued Thelma, ‘she’ll tell you that the memorial service in school was Bun’s idea. She’d have said it needed to fit in with her diary, so it’d have been relatively straightforward to book a week here in June and arrange it so the service would be on the Friday. At any rate she managed it. All she needed to do was check in, fit the drapes and paint that line of yellow where they didn’t quite meet in the middle. She could then do all that week’s Zoom calls and no one would know she wasn’t at home in Robin Hood’s Bay. And of course, the same thing applied to the memorial service – everyone thought she was sixty-odd miles away on the coast.’
‘Only one person realised that she wasn’t,’ said Liz.
‘Annie Golightly,’ said Pat.
‘I think when she saw Bun on the Zoom at the memorial, she might have had some idea something wasn’t quite right but she wasn’t sure what,’ said Thelma. ‘It was only when I mentioned the yellow line on the wall of your holiday let’ – she nodded at Ffion – ‘that the pieces fell into place and she worked out what Bun must have done. Her first instinct was to protect her friend – which is why she told people to delete the film of Bun from their phones – but as she neared death, she realised it was important to her that she told someone what had happened, and she sent for me.’
‘Excuse me,’ said Donna. ‘Whatwas it that made her realise Bun wasn’t at home?’
‘The sunlight,’ said Thelma. ‘When Bun was reciting the sonnet, the curtain slipped, letting in the sun.’
‘Son Masters said she looked like an angel haloed in the light,’ said Pat.
‘Only Annie realised the light was coming in from the wrong direction,’ said Thelma.
‘The Snuggery faces a different direction to her studio in Robin Hood’s Bay,’ said Pat.
‘Not the west but the east,’ said Liz. ‘Or the other way round, I’m not exactly sure. But the sun was coming in the wrong side for the time of day.’
‘Annie tried to tell me,’ said Thelma. ‘The sun was wrong, she said. Only I thought she meant SON –ess oh en– as in Davey’s partner – when really, she was saying SUN –ess you en.’
Ffion and Donna exchanged glances.
‘Blumin’ hummer,’ said Ffion. ‘How you lot worked this out is beyond me.’
‘I’ve been on a number of Zoom calls lately,’ said Thelma delicately. Both her friends tactfully looked down at their coffee cups. ‘It’s such a recent phenomenon, everyone having these virtual meetings. And one time when I was on a call, I realised that what I was seeing was what people wanted me to see … Things they wanted hidden could all stay neatly off camera.’
‘And Bun was able to hide the fact she wasn’t in Robin Hood’s Bay,’ said Pat.
‘Yeah, but why didn’t she use a virtual background?’ said Ffion. ‘Like a photo or something?’
‘Or even blur the background?’ said Donna.
‘Bun’s red African drapes are very distinctive,’ said Thelma. ‘If they suddenly disappeared, people would notice—’
‘And remember she did all this when she was planning tomurderNeville,’ said Liz.
‘So, she needed an alibi?’ said Donna.
‘Partly,’ said Thelma. ‘After all, Robin Hood’s Bay is at least a good hour and a half from here. But also, it was very important to her that she protected all the staff and friends of Davey Fletcher.When Neville was to be murdered, she wanted them all together, a safe distance away so they would be beyond suspicion.’
‘What I don’t get,’ said Ffion, ‘is how come Nev didn’t clock this woman and know who she was. I mean she was staying here the best part of three weeks.’
‘Do you often see your tenants?’ asked Pat.
Ffion conceded the point. ‘Only in passing,’ she said. ‘Some you don’t see at all.’
‘And anyway,’ said Thelma, ‘when Bun was staying here, she altered her appearance.’
‘How?’ said Donna. ‘Like a disguise – a wig or something?’
‘It was simpler than that,’ said Pat. ‘It wasn’t so much what she did as what she didn’t do …’
‘Here we have a striking woman,’ said Thelma. ‘Scarf in her hair, bright clothes, heavy make-up—’
