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then. Of course it had been awkward because Dave worked for the Council too, except not in the same department. But that had made it more exciting, carrying on under his nose and him never suspecting.
    He’d taken it very badly when Helen left him. That was before he knew about the relationship between her and Terri. He took it that the two of them living together meant Helen had moved in with a girlfriend until she found a place of her own. It hadn’t occurred to him at first what was involved.
    Terri recalled how Helen tried to tell him, but Dave didn’t believe her. He thought she was making it up to punish him for something, and that if he could put that right, she’d come back. If Helen had gone off with another man, of course, he’d have believed it. Dave was never the faithful type himself. He’d probably have picked a fight with the other man. He’d certainly have beaten Helen up, but that would’ve been the end of it.
    But when she finally said she was leaving him because she was in love with another woman, he didn’t know how to deal with that.
    That’s why Terri had bought this house in Somerset and they’d moved away from Torquay. Terri had found work as an administrator at the local hospital, while Helen seemed happy to give up her Council job and work part-time at the local supermarket.
    But Dave found them. Now he wouldn’t leave Helen alone. Terri thought, perhaps he’s been causing trouble, unsettling her. We were fine till he appeared on the scene. Is that it?
    Terri had insisted that Dave should not see Nicky when he came to visit. She’d argued that seeing her father would unsettle the child, that she should be given time to adjust. Helen wasn’t sure.
    Perhaps I was wrong, Terri thought. He must miss his daughter. Perhaps he’d leave Helen alone if he could see Nicky sometimes. Terri didn’t like to admit that the truth was she was afraid of the competition; she did so want Nicky to accept her as a parent.
    Does Helen want to go back to Dave? Terri asked herself. Does that explain the things she said?
    All she herself had tried to say was that they shouldn’t let Nicky get too friendly with the Millers. Jess Miller wasn’t a suitable friend for a child as clever and studious as Nicky. Jess, in Terri’s opinion, was a destructive force.
    And then Helen had started to abuse her.
    â€˜It’s nothing to do with you,’ Helen had shouted at her. ‘Nicky is my daughter, she’s nothing to do with you.’
    â€˜I’m only trying to help,’ Terri said. ‘I want the best for her.’
    â€˜What makes you think you know what’s best for her?’ Helen said.
    â€˜She lives in my house,’ Terri said, sounding desperate.
    â€˜If that’s how you feel, it’s easily remedied,’ Helen said. ‘I’m not going to stay where Nicky isn’t wanted.’
    Terri, stung, said, ‘You’ve nowhere else to go.’
    â€˜That’s what you think,’ Helen said, sneering. ‘It isn’t good for a young girl living here with you. It’s not right. She’d be better off with normal people.’
    That’s when she had swept out of the house, banging the front door.
    So that was why, when Rachel Moody and Jack Reid banged on the front door of Number Five, they got no answer. Terri Kent did not want to speak to anyone, she was too upset.
    She crouched on the floor of the bedroom where she had taken refuge in an unthinking effort to feel closer to Helen. She had nothing to say to the police. It was their job to find the murderer of the vicar from the village, let them get on with it and leave her alone. It wasn’t as if she could help, anyway.
    And if, terrible thought, they had come to tell her that Helen had taken her own life because of what Terri had said to her during their quarrel, then Terri definitely didn’t want to know. She told herself, as long