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CHAPTER 11

Friday morning, and Anna really intended to do a grocery shop before cooking dinner for Pete Jenkins. She had even attempted to clear some of the packing boxes, but she kept on thinking about Honour Nolan and the possibility that she and her husband were involved with Fitzpatrick. Eventually, she decided that, contrary to what she had been instructed to do by Cunningham, she could legitimately pay another visit to Oxford, to check on the antiques shop and to follow up on Honour Nolan's meeting with Julius D'Anton. She rang Pete.He sounded as if he was half asleep. "Hello?""Pete, it's Anna.""Oh, don't tell me you want to cancel dinner.""Well, not exactly. It's just I sort of need to take a trip to Oxford and I won't be sure what time I'll get back.""This got something to do with the case?"She said that it did, in a roundabout way."You want company?"She hesitated."There are some really great restaurants," he said persuasively. "One called The Bear, something like that—it's got Michelin stars up the yin-yang. I've always wanted to try it out. I could drive?""Well, if you can take the rest of the day off. then great," she said.They arranged to meet at his house in Hampstead, as he said he would need to take a shower and have a shave. They would then drive from there in his car, as he said it needed a "blow out." She was unsure exactly what he meant but agreed. An hour later, Anna parked outside Pete's house and was concerned that there was no response when she rang his doorbell. The sound of his Morgan sports car roaring into the street made her turn; he also blasted the horn.