“Did he?” John was surprised, annoyed.

“Of course he shouldn’t have done that without asking you first.”

“You didn’t have to listen.”

“No, I didn’t,” George agreed. “But I said that I’d help. I want to find out who murdered Charlie Todd, as quickly as possible. I presume you’ve no objection to that.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I just want them all to go away and leave us alone. I just want to get on with my work.” He sounded like a confused, spoilt little boy.

“As I said at lunch, they won’t go away until they find out who killed him.”

The birds had all been ringed, the numbers recorded. George collected together the bird bags. John smiled, an attempt to relieve the tension. “How did you get hold of the doctor’s bag?” he said. “He looks after them like gold. His wife made them all specially.”

“I found it by the heli,” George said. He refused to be distracted. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

John smiled again, pulled himself up to sit on the workbench.

“No. No, of course not. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t realize that Elizabeth was pregnant. Congratulations. I can understand why you were so shocked when Charlie said that he wanted to sell the island.”

“Can you?” The anger flared again, then died away. “I’m sorry. Yes. It would be hard enough for me to find another job in the natural history field, but impossible to find one which paid enough to keep Elizabeth and a child or provided the sort of accommodation where you could live with a baby. It’s going to be difficult anyway. I’ve put an advertisement to sell some of my books and my camera in British Birds.”

“When you left the dining room, you ended up on the Beacon?”

“Yes.”

“You told Superintendent Savage that you heard someone walking up the track. Could you really not tell who it was? You know the people here so well. Could you not make a guess?”

“It was Pamela Marshall,” he said. “I don’t know why I didn’t tell Savage. Perhaps because I thought that I wouldn’t be able to explain that I knew it was her. It was, though. I recognized her walk and her perfume.”

“You say that she walked past about three-quarters of an hour before Elizabeth found you and you saw the fire. You didn’t hear anyone else after her?”

“No, but I wouldn’t have done. I moved down to the halfway wall and sat at the top of the cliff.”

“How long did you stay with Charlie after you had put out the fire in the Wendy House?”

“Not very long. Perhaps twenty minutes.”

“Did you have a drink with him?”

“Yes. He had some brandy.”

“Did you have coffee?”

“No. He offered some, but Elizabeth wanted to get back.”

“Did he mention if he’d had any visitors before you and Elizabeth?”

“No.”

“You were out on the Beacon at seven this morning to hoist the cone. You would have been able to see anyone who was out on the island then. It would have been quite light. Did you see anyone at all?”