‘Well, sir, she couldn’t see him very distinctly.’

‘Him?’

‘Yes. She says she could just see it was a man, and he seemed to be wearing a raincoat, and a cap or beret of some sort. He was standing quite close to the window, Ethel reckons, and was caught by a streak of light coming through the blind. I asked her about the face, of course, but she says it was in shadow. She remembers that there was a small patch of light on the cap.’

‘There’s a hole in the blind,’ said Alleyn.

‘Is that so, sir? That might account for it, then. Ethel says the rest of the figure was in shadow. The collar of his raincoat was turned up and she thinks his hands were in his pockets.’

‘What height?’

‘About medium, Ethel thought, but you know how vague they are. She said to her boy: ‘Look, there’s someone down the lane. They must have seen us,’ and I suppose she gave a bit of a giggle, like a girl would.’

‘You ought to know.’

‘Why not, sir? Then, she says, the man turned aside and disappeared into the darker shadow and they could just hear his footfall as he walked away. Well, I went into the lane to see if I could pick up his prints, but you’ve been there and you know there wasn’t much to be seen near the window, except the tyre-tracks where the caravan had been manoeuvred about. When you get away from the window and out into the lane there are any number of them, but there’s been people and cars up and down during the weekend, and there’s not much hope of picking up anything definite.’

‘No.’

‘I’ve looked carefully and I can’t find anything. It’s different with the car traces under the window. They’re off the beaten track, but this downpour about finishes the lane as far as we’re concerned.’

‘I know.’