‘Don’t worry. If there is a book, I’ll leave the solution until the last chapter. All I’m saying is that there’s no earthly reason to keep me in the dark right now. That’s all.’

He put the last sheets into the envelope. ‘There are an awful lot more than six people who wanted him dead, Tony. I can think of twelve of them and that doesn’t include all the lunatics who’d do anything to stop NAB. That’s something you can put in your book. It’s a line to kill if ever I saw one.’

‘So has this got something to do with NAB?’

‘You really want to know?’ Hawthorne wagged a finger in my direction. ‘I’ll tell you this, Tony. You need to start with the chair. Charles le Mesurier was tied to a chair by his feet and his left hand. But his right hand was kept free. Why was that? If you can work that out, the rest of it will fall into place.’

‘Are you saying that the hand was deliberately left free?’

‘I don’t think they ran out of tape, if that’s what you mean.’

I’d hoped he’d say more but just then we were interrupted by the arrival of Elizabeth Lovell, as ever accompanied by her husband, Sid. It was far too early for dinner, but it turned out that wasn’t why they were here. ‘There he is!’ Sid muttered, as he led Elizabeth towards us. ‘Sitting with the writer. Just the two of them.’

Hawthorne got to his feet and pulled back a chair. He was clearly the one they had come to see so I stayed where I was. ‘Mrs Lovell . . .’

She felt for the chair and sat down. ‘Mr Hawthorne! I was hoping I’d find you.’ I hadn’t seen the medium since the party at The Lookout and we hadn’t spoken then. I remembered how upset Anne Cleary had been and part of me recoiled at seeing Elizabeth now. She had used the death of Anne’s son as a sort of parlour trick. That was what she did for a living. The fact that she was blind made no difference to me. She and Sid were as bad as each other.

‘I was wanting to talk to you too.’ Hawthorne plunged straight in. ‘I saw you at the party, sitting in the garden.’

‘Then you know I have a vice.’

‘I smoke too. It’s quite handy sometimes. Gets you out of the crowd. It made me wonder if you heard anyone go past. In particular, Charles le Mesurier went to the Snuggery sometime just before ten o’clock. I wonder if there was anyone with him? Was he talking to anyone?’

‘Liz wasn’t close enough,’ Sid said. ‘I sat her well away from the other guests. Sometimes she likes to be on her own.’