“That’s when you went to look for the nets?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see anyone while you were down on the shore?”

“Liz came down later in the evening, looking for John.”

“Were you together on the shore for the whole of the evening?”

“No.” Once again he looked at the superintendent and there was anxiety in his face. “ I found that I’d left my favourite ringing pliers here, and I came back to fetch them. But I didn’t go and set fire to Charlie’s house. I quite liked him. He wasn’t like the rest of the family.”

“You know the Todds?”

“I work for them. I’m assistant manager of one of their shops—the leisure wear and sports equipment shop in the High Street. My family has been working for the Todds for years.”

Savage caught the sharp note of bitterness in the boy’s voice, but did not follow it up. He was short of time and it was probably not relevant.

“Did you see anyone when you were on your way back to the observatory?”

“No, but someone had been out. Everyone hangs their coats in the hall, just outside the ringing room here. There’s a duffel coat that’s been here for years. For all I know it was left behind by Trinity House. There was a sharp shower of rain while I was on my way back to the shore after collecting my pliers. When we came into the observatory after finishing ringing, I noticed that the duffel coat was wet.”

“Was the coat used by anyone in particular?”

“No. We’ve all borrowed it at some time, to save having to go upstairs for a waterproof, or if we’ve come over to the island without a coat.”

“Can you tell me what happened this morning?”

“Mark and I went out to do a seawatch. We got up about seven-thirty. I would have set the alarm to go off earlier if I had known it would be so windy. When we got out I wanted to go to the hide, but Mark thought that it wouldn’t do to interrupt Jerry and Charlie. We came back in time for breakfast. You know what happened afterwards when we went down to the hide.”

“Yes. I know. I’ll not keep you much longer. Where did you meet Mark? Were you together all morning, until you went to the hide?”

“We shared a bedroom. He’s a really heavy sleeper. I woke him up. We went to the bathroom separately, but apart from that we were together all morning.”

“Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mardle. You’ve been very helpful.”

Superintendent Savage decided immediately that Mark Taylor looked like a monkey. He did not have any prejudice against monkeys, but he did against longhaired, unkempt, bearded young men who looked like them.

“Sit down,” he said shortly. “ You’re a student, are you?”

“Yes,” Mark answered. “How did you know?”

“You look like one.”

Mark, who was considered unconventional by his friends, thought that the policeman’s image of a student was dramatically out of date, but he said nothing. Superintendent Savage felt that he was being rushed. It was gone four and he still had to speak to Elizabeth. He turned the full force of his personality towards Mark.