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o’ Bells and go off to join his wife if her baby was born safe and well. What if he killed Kerensa, and had baby Albert taken to his wife, perhaps by this gypsy, Jed Smith? If Alfie’s wife is seen with a baby at some later date it would arouse no suspicion as long as the baby isn’t brought back here – at least, not until it has changed beyond recognition, as babies do. Besides, for all we know Alfie might even be the baby’s real father. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility.’
    â€˜It’s an interesting theory,’ Tom agreed, ‘So what do we do … go off to find Alfie’s wife and check on her?’
    Amos shook his head. ‘It is only a theory. I don’t think the chief constable would agree to pay for one of us to travel all the way to Wiltshire, where Alfie claims his wife is, unless we have something more to go on. A lot depends on what we get from this gypsy, Jed Smith. He might want to tell us something if he took a baby to Alfie’s wife and realizes it’s likely to involve him in a murder investigation….’
    Looking up at the sky, which had become overcast since they began their journey, Amos said, ‘Anyway, let’s speed up a bit. I promised Talwyn I would try to get home early for dinner
tonight – our visitor was due to arrive today and you’re coming to dinner, remember?’
    â€˜Who is this visitor, you said it was no one you know?’
    â€˜That’s right, she’s a nurse who will be with us for a night or two. She is in Cornwall trying to recruit new nurses from girls attending schools here. She served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea before going on to India where she must have been kept busy during the mutiny there. If she’s anything like the nurses I met when I was in Miss Nightingale’s Scutari hospital, she’ll be something of a ‘battleaxe’. I think Talwyn suggested I bring you home to dinner for support. We couldn’t really refuse to take her in; she is related to the man who funds the school where Talwyn teaches. Unfortunately, he and his family are away from Cornwall during her visit so he asked Talwyn to take care of her while she is here. In view of the money he puts into her school she could hardly say no.’
    It had been a hard day and although Tom welcomed the opportunity to enjoy Talwyn’s cooking, he would rather have spent the evening talking with just Amos and his wife about the events of the past few days. Talwyn was a very intelligent woman who had been of considerable help to Amos when he first came to Cornwall from Scotland Yard on a murder investigation, and both men were appreciative of her acumen.
    Nevertheless, shaking out his reins in order to keep up with Amos’s mount, Tom said, ‘Oh well, we’re neither of us patients now and I think for one night I can put up with a battle-axe. After all, Florence Nightingale and her nurses did a great deal for our wounded men when they had most need of women like her. I’ll be on my best behaviour.’

    A shock awaited the two policemen when they arrived at the Hawkes’ house and were introduced to the nursing battle-axe. In her early thirties, Verity Pendleton was a tall and elegant fair-haired woman who would have turned the head of any man at a social gathering.
    She was also well-educated and possessed a surprising knowledge of police work and procedures. The reason for this became clear when she explained that she had grown up in a police environment, her stepfather being an ex-Royal Navy captain who, on retirement, had been appointed as Chief Constable of the Wiltshire Constabulary, a force which had been formed almost twenty years before that of Cornwall.
    Over dinner the conversation was for a while about the Crimea war and the military hospital at Scutari, in nearby Turkey, where a newly qualified Verity had served as a nurse with Florence Nightingale and where Amos had