“Did you know what was in the jar? Was it labelled?”

“I knew what was in it because the teacher told me. I can’t remember if it was labelled. I suppose it must have been.”

“Would everyone have known that it was in the cupboard?”

“Everyone would have seen it. It was on the shelf with the bird bags. But unless it was marked, no one would have known what it was.”

There was a silence, comfortable now, as John spread out more photographs, then George said: “You knew Charlie as well as anyone. You’ve been his neighbour for nearly five years. Would he be capable of blackmail, do you think?”

John was not surprised by the question, but he hesitated while he thought.

“Not blackmail. Not really blackmail,” he said. “ Charlie would never have tried to make money out of other people’s problems, but he enjoyed finding out about them. He was really nosy, a bit like a kid. He was childish in lots of ways. He’d throw incredible tantrums if he didn’t get his own way. And I suppose he might try to use the information he’d discovered to get his own way. It didn’t always work, but he usually managed to persuade people to his point of view.”

“And what was his point of view? What did he persuade people to do for him?”

“Oh, there were silly things. He wanted to have an observatory New Year’s Eve party. No one else was very keen. I suppose the lads wanted to be out with their own friends, and Pam wanted to be with her family, but everyone turned up for the party in the end. I don’t know how he managed it. But he wasn’t always selfish. Once he conned the doctor and Jasmine to allow a bunch of deprived kids from Birmingham to have a free holiday here.”

“How did he do that?”

“I don’t know. He was very clever, quite subtle. He probably just appealed to Jasmine’s better nature. She’s so fond of the island that she’s quite happy to share it with everyone. Doctor Derbyshire would have been more difficult to persuade, but there are probably some skeletons in his cupboard.”

“Any idea what they might be?”

“No. I don’t know him very well. I only ever see him here.”

“Did he try his form of blackmail on you?”

“He didn’t get any opportunity. I made it quite clear before we came that Elizabeth and I weren’t married. He didn’t mind. He wasn’t at all prudish. It wasn’t immorality that attracted him as much as secrecy. He tried to find out all about Elizabeth and Frank, Elizabeth’s ex-husband. Frank’s quite famous in his own field. You see his name on the credits of TV documentary programmes, but again there was nothing to find out. Besides, Charlie was rather frightened by Elizabeth. She intimidated him.”

It occurred to Molly that John was speaking rather glibly about the lack of secrecy in his relationship with Elizabeth. From the short conversation at breakfast, it seemed that Elizabeth, at least, had secrets from him. Had Charlie been aware of that?