“I’ll go and speak to Mr. Lansdown, then. I expect he’ll be in his flat. Do you want to come?” But the generosity was too obvious, and George answered sharply.

“No. No, thank you. I’ve done enough talking for today. I’ll go outside, I think. Get some fresh air before lunch.”

As he went out he noticed that the duffel coat was no longer on its peg. The police, he supposed, had removed it. Without it, the hall seemed unusually bare, like a room when the curtains have been taken down to be washed.

While he was on the Beacon George decided that he would not leave the island with the others. He would have to stay and see the case through to the end. He would not let time, or Savage with his boyish enthusiasm and his platitudes, defeat him. He had not bothered to change his shoes and the soggy bracken drenched his trousers, but he did not mind the discomfort. Now that the decision was made he was happier. He would telephone Molly, ask her to join him. It began to rain again and he walked back to the observatory, where the others were gathering in the dining room for lunch.

There was a cold meal already laid on the table, and they were taking their seats when Elizabeth noticed that Miss Carson was not there.

“She was upstairs, I think,” she said. “I’ll just go and call her.”

“I’ll go,” George said. He was still standing. He went up the stairs and walked along the corridor. Jasmine was not in her room. He felt suddenly anxious and walked quietly on. All the doors were open, and it was with relief that he noticed that she was in the room that had been used by Paul Derbyshire. She had her back to him, and did not realize that he was there. She was bending over the waste-paper bin. She stood up suddenly.

He moved quickly out of her line of vision, walked back to the stairs, then called: “Miss Carson, lunch is ready.”

He went back to the dining room and waited for her to follow. She came in soon after. She gave no explanation for what she had been doing. He presumed that she had not seen him. She took her seat and joined in the general conversation. He did not speak to her about it.

They were all so preoccupied at lunch with their preparations to leave that when George said, diffidently, that he thought he might stay for a few days, no one showed much interest. John said that it would be useful to have somebody else around to help with the ringing. George followed them out to the Land Rover to see them off. They hovered there, not sure what to say to each other. They so much wanted to leave, and now they seemed almost frightened to go. They seemed to envy George. Even after two murders, Gillibry seemed a place of security compared with the unknown of the mainland. They went in the end. George walked up to the Beacon to wave them off. He almost felt sorry for them.