‘It didn’t seem important. What could it have to do with the matter you came to inquire about? The death of . . . that poor girl.’

Swallow wondered if Stefan Werner had genuinely forgotten Alice Flannery’s name or if he was affecting amnesia.

‘It’s no trivial thing when one man threatens to kill another, Mr Werner. In fact it’s a crime, and a very serious one. And the girl’s name was Alice Flannery, by the way.’

‘Mr Swallow,’ Werner’s smile was condescending, ‘thank you for reminding me. My lapse of memory was very temporary, I assure you. As to that kind of language, it will be heard every day in a busy kitchen. Nobody takes it literally. Certainly nobody would regard it as a crime.’

Mossop was scribbling in his notebook.

‘Did Carmody have any dealings with Alice Flannery?’

‘I might have seen them speaking on one or two occasions.’

‘Any idea what they might have been speaking about?’ Mossop asked.

Werner shook his head.

‘Not in the slightest. How could I?’

‘But their work wouldn’t have required conversation between them?’

‘That is probably so,’ Werner agreed.

For a moment Swallow thought the restaurateur seemed somewhat distracted.

‘Yes, that is so,’ he repeated as if something had just occurred to him.

Swallow struck a deliberately grave tone.

‘Mr Werner, when I asked you for details of your employees here you did not mention the name of Michael James Carmody. You furnished my colleagues with a list of employees that did not include his name. Yet now you tell me he threatened violence against another member of your staff. That is, in spite of what you say, a crime. And I have to tell you that he has been convicted in the courts for a serious assault. This could have a bearing on a murder inquiry. Your omission may have serious consequences.’

Werner’s face darkened.

‘I hope you’re not threatening me, Detective Inspector. I am, as I say, being co-operative with you, at the expense of my responsibilities here on what you can see is a very busy day. This Carmody had left our employment when you visited me. If I were to give you the names of every kitchen porter and still-room worker who worked here in the past it would be a very long list, I assure you. I gave you a full and complete list of those employed here when Miss Flannery was killed.’

Swallow acknowledged silently that he might have a point. But he was not prepared to concede it.

‘With respect, Mr Werner, that doesn’t fully address my point. We are investigating the murder of one of your employees. I’m sure you can understand the potential significance in the fact that she worked with a man who has a record of violence.’

‘What can I do?’ Werner raised his eyebrows in a gesture of helplessness. ‘It never occurred to me. I’m sorry.’

He hesitated.