A Nice Place to Die by Jane Mcloughlin

what they’d say if she asked ‘what better things?’ But she didn’t want to antagonize potential witnesses.
    â€˜What can you tell us about the Millers?’ Rachel Moody asked Dr Henson.
    He looked at his wife as though checking that they were going to agree on their answer.
    â€˜Nothing at all, I’m afraid,’ Dr Henson said. ‘We’ve never actually met them socially.’
    â€˜That’s right,’ Jean Henson said, backing him up.
    â€˜You must see them around, surely?’ DCI Moody said.
    â€˜There are enough of them,’ Jack Reid added. ‘I’d have thought they were hard to miss.’
    â€˜We try to keep ourselves to ourselves,’ Dr Henson said.
    â€˜People don’t mix much round here,’ Jean Henson said. ‘Least of all the Millers. Why should they? They’ve got each other. You might say they’re a typical twenty-first century family unit.’
    â€˜You’re more aware of them in the summer, of course,’ Dr Henson said, making an effort to help. ‘When they’ve got the windows open, there’s a bit of noise. The kids have their friends round. And there’s the child. She’s a lively little thing.’
    â€˜The child?’ Rachel asked. ‘We didn’t know there was a child.’
    â€˜Oh, yes,’ Jean said. ‘She must be nearly a year old now. Jess couldn’t have been much more than thirteen when she fell pregnant. Didn’t they tell you?’
    Rachel said, ‘We haven’t questioned the Millers yet, except at the time to take a statement from Mrs Miller about finding the body. We want to try to piece together what really happened before we go any further.’
    Sergeant Reid asked, ‘You’re quite sure you saw nothing suspicious?’
    â€˜I expect we were in the garden,’ Jean said, and added, ‘gardening.’
    â€˜There must’ve been a fair bit of noise when it was going on,’ Jack said. ‘There were a number of kids involved, according to Donna Miller. You’re sure you didn’t hear anything at all?’
    â€˜No, nothing,’ Dr Henson said. ‘What a terrible thing, that poor young widow and her children.’
    â€˜It makes it worse that it’s so close to Christmas, don’t you think?’ Jean Henson said.
    Rachel struggled to get up out of the vast armchair where Mrs Henson had invited her to sit.
    â€˜We won’t take up any more of your time,’ she said. She tried to stifle the irritation in her voice. She was convinced that the Hensons were holding something back. She added, ‘If you think of anything . . .’
    â€˜Of course,’ Dr Henson said.
    And Jean said, ‘You should talk to Alice Bates. She knows everything that happens in the street.’
    â€˜But not yesterday, it seems,’ Rachel Moody said. ‘She saw nothing.’
    Peter and Jean Henson walked with the DCI and the Sergeant to their front door and closed it firmly after them. As soon as they were alone, Peter Henson said, ‘They’ve interviewed Alice, then?’
    â€˜And she obviously didn’t say anything,’ Jean said.
    Dr Henson followed his wife through to the kitchen.
    â€˜Should I have said something?’ he asked. ‘I feel bad about keeping quiet.’
    Jean put the kettle on. She had no intention of making tea or coffee, it was an automatic action to try and distract herself from the police visit.
    â€˜No,’ she said, ‘no, of course not. I said when you came out to the back garden and told me what you’d seen, we mustn’t get involved. You know what the Millers are like.’
    â€˜But that young vicar was killed, Jean, he’s dead.’
    â€˜Yes,’ Jean said, ‘he is, and if you don’t keep quiet, so will you be. You’re no match for that Kevin Miller.’
    â€˜But if everyone thought like