Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham

called.’
    ‘I won’t get into trouble?’
    ‘Not at all. I am very friendly with the police and have helped them on many cases.’
    ‘Oh, well, I s’pose . . .’
    She got up and went through to the kitchen.
    Agatha looked at Roy and rolled her eyes. What if the silly woman changed her mind?
    But Mrs Laver came back and handed Agatha a thick brown envelope. Agatha tried not to snatch it.
    She stood up. ‘We’ll be on our way.’
    ‘Aren’t you going to see what’s in it?’ asked Mrs Laver.
    ‘No, we’ll leave that job to the police. Come along, Roy.’
    They made their escape. As they were getting into the car, Mrs Laver called after them, ‘I’d better take a note of your name and address. You’re Mrs Anderson, didn’t you say?’
    ‘Drive off!’ hissed Agatha to Roy. ‘Let the silly woman think I’m Mrs Anderson in case she calls the police.’
    Roy accelerated off.
    ‘Now when we’re clear of this place, stop somewhere,’ ordered Agatha, ‘and let’s have a look at what we’ve got.’
    Roy drove for several streets and then pulled into the side of the road.
    Agatha took out the envelope, which she had stuffed in her handbag. She was about to open it when Roy grabbed her hand.
    ‘I don’t like this,’ he said. ‘You’ll get us into trouble. This is police evidence.’
    ‘I found it, they didn’t,’ growled Agatha. ‘Get off, Roy. I’ll take the responsibility.’
    She opened the envelope. It was crammed with fifty-pound notes. ‘Must be blackmail money,’ she said. ‘There’s a letter.’
    She pulled out one sheet of paper and opened it. She read, ‘This is all I can afford. I think you’re a wicked, evil man. After all we were to each other, I can’t believe you would do this to me. Harriet.’ Agatha counted out the money. ‘There’s five thousand pounds here!’
    ‘Is there an address?’ asked Roy.
    ‘Yes, 14A, Hanson Street, Portsmouth.’
    ‘I’d better stop at a stationer’s and get a street map.’
    When they had found a map, Hanson Street turned out to be a small street running off London Road in the centre of the town.
    ‘Back to that car park,’ grumbled Roy, ‘and let’s hope there’s a space left.’
    They had to wait a frustrating half an hour for a car to drive out and leave them a space. They walked to Hanson Street. Fourteen A turned out to be the basement of a shop.
    ‘Doesn’t look very prosperous,’ said Agatha as they walked down the steps.
    Roy rang the bell. A tired-looking middle-aged woman answered the door.
    ‘Harriet?’ asked Agatha.
    ‘Yes, who are you?’
    ‘We’ve brought you this.’ Agatha handed her the envelope full of money.
    Harriet turned a muddy colour.
    ‘Are you the police?’
    ‘No,’ said Agatha. ‘Just a couple of people trying to make sure that blackmailing bastard doesn’t continue to ruin people from beyond the grave. Can we come in?’
    Clutching the envelope tightly, Harriet led them into a large room strewn with coloured fabrics and dominated by a sewing machine.
    ‘You’re a dressmaker?’ asked Roy.
    ‘Yes, it’s a living,’ said Harriet wearily. She seemed drained of energy.
    She sat down and said, ‘You can’t blackmail me as well. It was all for nothing.’
    ‘We’ve only come to help you,’ said Agatha. ‘We should have given that money and letter to the police. But we didn’t.’
    ‘Thank you. I could do with the money.’
    ‘Let’s introduce ourselves,’ said Agatha briskly. ‘I’m Agatha Raisin and this is Roy Silver. I found John Shawpart’s body and decided to find out what I could. You don’t want us to tell the police about you and I don’t want you to tell the police about me. I’ll tell you what happened.’
    So Agatha told her all about Evesham, about the house being burnt down, about the other women who had been blackmailed.
    ‘Why didn’t I even guess he was so evil?’ sighed Harriet. ‘Move some of those fabrics and sit down. I’m Harriet Worth.’
    ‘So how did he get his claws into you?’ asked Agatha.
    ‘In pretty much the same way as he got hold of those other women,’ said Harriet. ‘I went to the salon to get my hair done. Unlike those other women, my marriage was happy. Luke’s got a good job with a computer company. Mr John asked me out and of course I refused. But he laughed it off and he was a wizard at doing my hair and Luke liked my new appearance so I kept going.
    ‘Then John started to look at me in a sort of pitying way and I