‘I’m sorry,’ Olivia said, as she might have done to a tradesman who had sold poor quality goods. ‘But I don’t believe you.’

‘Tell me,’ said Molly quietly. ‘How did you manage it?’

‘Look,’ Olivia said. ‘If you know as much as you do you must realise that I can have had nothing to do with it. I never leave the house.’

‘You were responsible.’

‘No,’ Olivia said sharply. ‘Ursula was responsible. What right did she have coming here, disturbing our evening, making threats?’

‘So you arranged to have her removed. It would solve all sorts of problems, wouldn’t it? Back Rigg would be available for Marcus’s shooting parties. You never could stomach the idea, could you, of the Cadver as a glorified guest house with loud Italian businessmen playing snooker in the library? The threat to go public about the poisoned buzzard was just the final straw. You decided to get rid of her.’

‘No, no,’ Olivia said. ‘ You don’t understand. I never meant to have her killed. That was a typical example of incompetence. I wanted her off the estate. I made it clear that was what I expected.’

‘But you do know who killed her?’ Milly said. ‘You’re a clever woman. You do know that. And you must have known there was a danger.’

Olivia smiled. ‘Of course I know who killed her,’ she said. ‘But there’s no proof. And I’d admit it to no one else.’

They sat, looking at each other. Molly thought she heard a car engine but the room was at the back of the house and she could not be sure.

‘Well,’ Olivia. ‘And what do you intend to do now?’

‘I’ll go to the police,’ Molly said.

‘Do you really think they’ll believe you? With the influence we have in the country?’

‘You’re out of touch,’ Molly said sadly. ‘This isn’t the 1930s. Things have changed.’

‘Not here,’ Olivia said. ‘Things haven’t changed here. Not at the Cadver.’

‘Tell me,’ Molly said. ‘ Did Ursula tell you who was at the door when you were speaking to her on the telephone on Friday night?’

‘Of course,’ Olivia said. ‘I asked her. I wanted to find out if …’ She paused.

‘… your instructions were being followed,’ Molly said.

Olivia shrugged.

‘You’ve outstayed your welcome,’ she said. ‘I think you should leave.’

She stood up and walked towards the door. As she opened it there was the sound of footsteps running and a door slamming. Immediately afterwards there was an explosion. Molly, who knew very little about these things, thought at first that it was a bomb. The Animal Rights Group had got Marcus after all. Then, more rationally, she realised that it was a gun fired in an enclosed space and she ran from the room towards the noise. Upstairs the vacuum cleaner still whined and a woman screamed.