‘I think it was Ferry Lane.’

‘You wouldn’t know the name of the shop?’

‘No,’ Troy said doubtfully. ‘It was so dark. I don’t think I saw. But—wait a bit—yes: on a very dilapidated little sign in Dr Natouche’s torchlight. “Jno. Bagg: Licensed Dealer”.’

‘Good. And it was there they made their haul?’

‘That’s right. They went back there from Longminster. Yesterday.’

‘Do you think it might be a Constable?’

‘I’ve no idea. It’s in his manner and it’s extremely well painted.’

‘What was the general reaction to the find?’

‘The Hewsons are going to show it to an expert. If it’s genuine I think they plan to come back and scour the district for more. I rather fancy Lazenby’s got the same idea.’

‘And you’ve doubts about him being a parson?’

‘Yes. I don’t know why.’

‘No eye in the left socket?’

‘It was only a glimpse but I think so. Rory—?’

‘Yes?’

‘The man who killed Andropulos—Foljambe—the Jampot. Do you know what he looks like?’

‘Not really. We’ve got a photograph but Santa Claus isn’t more heavily bearded and his hair, which looks fairish, covers his ears. It was taken over two years ago and is not a credit to the Bolivian photographer. He had both his eyes then but we have heard indirectly that he received some sort of injury after he escaped and lay doggo with it for a time. One report was that it was facial and another that it wasn’t. There was a third rumour thought to have originated in the South that he’d undergone an operation to change his appearance but none of this stuff was dependable. We think it likely that there is some sort of physical abnormality.’

‘Please tell me, Rory. Please. Do you think he’s on board?’

And because Alleyn didn’t at once protest, she said: ‘You do. Don’t you? Why?’

‘Before I got here, I would have said there was no solid reason to suppose it. On your letters and on general circumstances. Now, I’m less sure.’

‘Is it because of—have you seen…?’

‘The body? Yes, it’s largely because of that.’

‘Then—what—?’

‘We’ll have to wait for the autopsy. I don’t think they’ll find she drowned, Troy. I think she was killed in precisely the same way as Andropulos was killed. And I think it was done by the Jampot.’

CHAPTER 7
Routine

‘—And so,’ Alleyn said, ‘we set up the appropriate routine and went to work in the usual way. Tillottson was under-staffed—the familiar story—but he was able to let us have half a dozen uniformed men. He and the Super at Longminster—Mr Bonney—did all they could to co-operate. But once we’d caught that whiff of the Jampot it became essentially our job with strong European and American connections.