‘That, I believe, is Garcia’s clay model of the Comedy and Tragedy for the cinemas at Westminster. We’ll have a look at it when Bailey has dealt with the case and the wet clothes. The point with which I think we should concern ourselves now is this. How did it get here?’

He lit a cigarette from the stump of his old one.

‘In the caravan we looked at this morning?’ suggested Fox from behind a white handkerchief he had tied across the lower half of his face. He was doing hideous things on the floor with a small trowel and a glass bottle.

‘It would seem so, Brer Fox. We found pretty sound evidence that the caravan had been backed up to the window. Twig on the roof, tyre-tracks under the sill, traces of the little wheeled platform on the ledge and the step and floor of the caravan. The discrepancy in the petrol fits in with this place quite comfortably, I think. Very well. That was all fine and dandy as long as Garcia was supposed to have driven himself and his gear up to London, and himself back to Tatler’s End House. Now we’ve got a different story. Someone returned the caravan to Tatler’s End House, and that person has kept quiet about it.’

‘Is it possible,’ asked Fox, ‘that Garcia drove the car back and returned here by some other means?’

‘Hardly, Fox, I think. On Friday night Garcia was recovering from a pipe or more of opium, and possibly a jorum of whisky. He was in no condition to get his stuff aboard a caravan, drive it thirty miles, open this place up, manoeuvre the caravan inside, unload it, drive it back, and then start off again to tramp back to London or catch a train or bus. But suppose somebody arrived at the studio on Friday night and found Garcia in a state of semi-recovery. Suppose this person offered to drive Garcia up to London and return the caravan. Does that quarrel with anything we have found? I don’t think it does. Can we find anything here to support such a theory? I think we can. The front part of the floor has been swept. Why the devil should Garcia sweep the floor of this place at midnight while he was in the condition we suppose him to have been in? Bailey, have you dealt with the bottle on the table?’

‘Yes, sir. We’ve got a fairly good impression of the deceased’s left thumb, forefinger and second finger.’

‘Very good. Will you all look now at the hands?’

Alleyn turned to the shrouded figure. The arms projected from under the sheets. The hands at the far edge of the table were uncovered.