Body Line by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

she felt we were practically cousins, and it didn’t matter what I asked, she’d tell me, no charge. Janey, she was a babbling brook! But she knew all about the Friths and the Sturgesses.’
    There’d been Friths in Sarratt since Moses was a lad, it turned out. The Sturgesses were comparative newcomers, arriving in the eighteenth century, but they were very well thought of. The Friths were farmers; the Sturgesses had private money, and as well as patronage had supplied two rectors over the period, and had built the village hall. The Knox bit had only recently arrived: Amanda’s mother had been a Knox and had wanted it tacked on, but local people sturdily rejected that piece of showmanship and refused to use more than Sturgess – which was perhaps why Amanda had reverted after the divorce.
    Maureen had attended the local school with both Robin and Amanda, through infant and primary stages. After that she had gone to the local secondary, Amanda had gone private to St Mary’s girls’ school, and Robin had gone to Sarratt Grammar for Boys; but they’d still met up after school, at various local do’s and friends’ parties. As they grew older the social differences between them made themselves apparent: Robin’s family were well-to-do, Amanda’s a cut above that. Maureen’s father was only a shopkeeper, so she gradually drifted into her own set, and she left school at sixteen while the other two went on to the sixth form. But they all remained friendly, on village terms, and Maureen was witness to how things panned out.
    ‘She said it was always Robin and Amanda,’ Connolly told Slider, ‘from the nursery up. They did everything together. Everyone thought they would get married when they grew up. Well, these childhood romances don’t often work out, but the two of them just seemed to get closer. Then apparently when they were sixth form age, Robin threw a spanner in the works, saying he wanted to work with horses. Well, he’d always ridden – so had she – but to her it was just a hobby. She said he was an eejit – he’d never make any money at it, it was a waste of his brains. He said it was all he’d ever wanted. Eventually they had a big row about it. Maureen said Amanda gave out it was a menial job, working with animals, and he was better than that, and he took offence because his family were farmers and he thought she was looking down on them. So it was the big split, and she went off to university, while he went to do a horse management course at this posh residential place in Sussex.’
    ‘She said she went to Edinburgh to get as far away from her family as possible,’ Slider said. ‘But this story makes sense of that, too. And it would mean she was vulnerable to Rogers when she met him there.’
    ‘On the rebound?’ Connolly said. ‘Right. And him having the ambition to be a doctor – she’d have approved of that.’
    ‘What did Robin’s parents think about his career?’
    ‘They didn’t mind. There was another son, the older boy, to take over the farm, so Robin had to fare for himself somehow, and wanting to work with animals seemed normal to them. Maureen said she’d always though he’d become a vet, because he was so good with animals – could do anything with them, dogs never bit him and so on – but he just wanted to ride and train horses. Well, by the time Amanda came back from university, he’d got himself taken on at this stables in Chipperfield – which was quite a high-powered establishment from what Maureen said – and was competing and winning cups and all that carry-on, so he was happy enough. But your woman didn’t see it that way.’
    ‘I was under the impression that Amanda came back from Edinburgh already committed to Rogers,’ Slider said. ‘In love and wanting to marry, only the parents disapproved.’
    ‘Yes, sir, I read your notes. But Maureen tells a different story. She says Amanda came back with the doctor in tow all right, but she still wanted to take