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think Geoff or his constructed Christine are murderers.’
    Libby giggled. ‘Constructed Christine! I like that. She was, wasn’t she? I wonder what attracted her to bumptious Geoff?’
    â€˜Money,’ said Fran.
    â€˜But out here? She’s more Marbella than remote Turkish village.’
    â€˜Escaping something?’ suggested Fran. ‘In which case that could be the reason they’re a closed community.’
    Libby gasped. ‘You mean like the Costa del Crime?’
    â€˜Don’t they say ex-pats are often trying to escape something?’
    â€˜Yes – the weather, usually,’ said Libby.
    â€˜Alec Wilson himself might have been trying to escape something.’ Fran stopped and looked at Libby.
    â€˜And whatever it was caught up with him?’ Libby stopped too. ‘Actually, that makes more sense than anything else.’
    â€˜I expect Commander Smith will look into his background,’ said Fran, resuming her now slower pace down the drive, ‘which the local force would never have done.’
    â€˜Do you think it’s more likely to be someone or something from his past than something or someone from here?’
    â€˜It’s as likely, anyway,’ said Fran. ‘I expect our Johnny will look into it.’
    Back at Jimmy’s they joined the others for lunch and brought them up to date on the morning’s happenings.
    â€˜So now we’ve got a high-ranking British police officer involved,’ said Ben. ‘I don’t know how you do it.’
    â€˜It wasn’t us!’ said Libby indignantly. ‘It was the consulate.’
    â€˜And they felt it was necessary because?’ asked Peter.
    â€˜The local force wouldn’t have looked into his background, and we knew he’s been in touch with his long lost mum, so we need to find her,’ said Libby.
    â€˜Nothing to do with nosing out a murderer?’ said Harry.
    â€˜The consulate want him to do that, of course,’ said Fran, refusing to be roused.
    â€˜And he’s actually asked you to help search the victims’ houses?’ Peter sounded incredulous.
    â€˜He says the Jandarma wouldn’t do it properly.’ Libby was defensive. ‘And they wouldn’t know if they found anything because they can’t read English.’
    â€˜There is that,’ said Guy. ‘Did you tell him about your previous adventures?’
    â€˜Yes. Martha had already told him a bit,’ said Fran, ‘although I don’t know why.’
    â€˜Because we were investigating,’ said Libby. ‘It was very sensible of her.’
    â€˜Because now you can be as nosy as you like,’ said Ben.
    â€˜All right, all right.’ Libby sighed. ‘Don’t forget you’re all just as interested. Where’s Betty? We ought to tell her. She took us to Mahmud’s place.’
    â€˜Greta and Tom dragged her off to the village,’ said Harry. ‘Walter refused to go and is sulking down by the pool.’
    Libby peered. ‘So he is. I don’t know how she puts up with it. He doesn’t seem to like anything.’
    â€˜I went over and asked him if he’d like to join us for lunch, but he said no, he didn’t eat lunch.’ Peter shook his head. ‘Which is a lie. We’ve seen him.’
    â€˜Oh, forget about him. We’ll probably see Betty and Greta and Tom later. We’ll tell them then.’ Fran pushed back her chair. ‘I’m going to lie on a sunbed, have a swim, and then a cup of tea.’
    â€˜Unless we’re summoned, of course,’ said Libby at exactly the same time as Jimmy called out from his office.
    â€˜Libby! Fran! There’s a Mr Smith on the phone for you.’

Chapter Nine
    â€˜I’ll pick you up in ten minutes. That OK?’
    â€˜Now?’ said Libby. ‘We are on holiday, Mr Smith.’
    â€˜But you were already asking questions, weren’t you. So why