“If you’d both like to think about it for a while, it would be a great help.”

“You said it was odd that he wouldn’t let us talk to Luke,” Robin said.

“It’s unusual, yes,” Annie answered.

“Do you think it was because…because Luke was already dead?”

“That’s possible,” said Annie. “But we won’t know until the pathologist has finished his job.”

“When will that be?”

“Perhaps by this evening or early tomorrow.” Dr. Burns, the police surgeon, had been unable to give an accurate estimate of time of death at the scene, so they would have to wait until Dr. Glendenning had finished his postmortem examination of Luke’s body. Even then, they had learned not to expect miracles from medical science.

“Can you remember anything else about the caller?” Banks asked Martin Armitage.

“I’ve told you everything I know. I can’t remember any more.”

“The voice definitely wasn’t familiar?”

“No one I recognized.”

“And there was only the one call?”

“Yes.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us that might be of help?”

Both Martin and Robin Armitage shook their heads. Banks and Annie got up. “We’ll need to have a look at Luke’s room next,” said Banks, “and then we’d like to talk to your housekeeper and her husband.”

“Josie and Calvin?” said Martin. “But why?”

“They might be able to help.”

“I can’t see how.”

“Were they close to Luke?”

“Not especially. If truth be told, I always got the impression that they thought him a bit of a weirdo. They’re wonderful people, salt of the earth, but sort of traditional in their views of people and behavior.”

“And Luke didn’t fit the mold?”

“No. He might as well have come from outer space as far as they’re concerned.”

“Was there any animosity?”

“Of course not. They are our employees, after all. What are you suggesting, that they had something to do with this?”

“I’m not suggesting anything, merely asking. Look, Mr. Armitage, I can understand your feelings, honestly I can, but you must let us do our jobs the way we see fit. It’s not going to help at all if you start challenging every move we make. I promise you we’ll be as discreet as we can with all our inquiries. No matter what you think, we don’t go around bullying people. But we also don’t accept everything at face value. People lie for a variety of reasons, many of them irrelevant to the investigation, but sometimes it’s because they did it, and it’s for us to sort out the lies from the truth. You’ve already lied to us once yourself that we know of, when you rang DI Cabbot and told her you’d heard from Luke.”

“I did that to protect Luke.”

“I understand why you did it, but it was still a lie. Maybe you can see how complicated our job becomes when you take all the lies into account. The lies of the innocent, especially. As I said, we don’t take things, or people, at face value, and like it or not, every murder investigation begins close to home, then moves outward. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll take a look at Luke’s room.”