When Margaret Vane was found beside the workbench of her late husband's candle shop, the town physician believed she had collapsed.

Cryer noticed the bruise beneath her hairline.

The workshop door was locked, but the rear storeroom shared a narrow ventilation passage with the neighbouring property. In the wax around the workbench he found a partial boot impression and a small brass button.

The button belonged to her husband's former apprentice, who had returned demanding money. He had entered through the passage, struck Margaret and locked the workshop behind him.

The clocks had not stopped at the moment of death.

They had been stopped deliberately.

The apprentice believed the identical time would make the death appear uncanny.

Cryer called it what it was: murder dressed as superstition.