‘Look, Mr Alleyn, I’m sorry I went nasty just now. I’m like that. I go horribly crook, and the next minute I could knock me own block off for what I said. But look, you don’t want to think too much about this. Honest! That girl Sonia was easy. Look, she went round asking for it, dinkum she did. Soon as I saw that note, I tipped she’d got hold of old Basil some time, and he’d just kind of thought, “Aw, what the hell” and there you were. Look, he’s a decent old sport, dinkum he is. And now he’s got a real corking girl like Valmai Seacliff, it’d be a nark if he got in wrong. His old pot’s a wowser, too. That makes things worse. Look, Mr Alleyn, I’d hate him to think I—’

‘All right, all right,’ said Alleyn good-humouredly. ‘We’ll keep your name out of it if we can.’

‘Good oh, Mr Alleyn. And, look, you won’t—’

‘I won’t clap the handcuffs on Mr Pilgrim just yet.’

‘Yeah, but—’

‘You buzz off. And if you’ll take a tip from an effete policeman, just think sometimes, before you label the people you meet: “No good” or “standoffish,” or what is that splendid phrase? “fair cows.” Have you ever heard of an inferiority complex?’

‘Naow.’

‘Thank the Lord for that. All the same I fancy you suffer from one. Go slow. Think a bit more. Wait for people to like you and they will. And forgive me if you can, for prosing away like a Victorian uncle. Now, off you go.’

‘Good oh, Mr Alleyn.’

Hatchett walked to the door. He opened it and then swung round.

‘Thanks a lot,’ he said. ‘Ta-ta for now.’

The door banged, and he was gone. Alleyn leant back in his chair and laughed very heartily.

‘Cheeky young fellow, that,’ said Fox. ‘Australian. I’ve come across some of them. Always think you’re looking down on them. Funny!’

‘He’s an appalling specimen,’ said Nigel from the corner. ‘Bumptious young larrikin. Even his beastly argot is bogus. Half-American, half-Cockney.’

‘And pure Australian. The dialect is rapidly becoming Americanized.’

‘A frightful youth. No wonder they sat on him. He ought to be told how revolting he is whenever he opens his mouth. Antipodean monster.’

‘I don’t agree with you,’ said Alleyn. ‘He’s an awkward pup, but he might respond to reason in time. What do you make of this business of the note, Fox?’

‘Hard to say,’ said Fox. ‘Looks like the beginnings of blackmail.’

‘Very like, very like.’

‘From all accounts it wouldn’t be very surprising if we found Garcia had set her on to it, would it now?’

‘Speculative, but attractive.’

‘And then murdered her when he’d collared the money,’ said Nigel.

‘You’re a fanciful fellow, Bathgate,’ said Alleyn mildly.

‘Well, isn’t it possible?’