“The music started up again, and Tom went off to talk to some of his cronies from the print sector. I was collared by some Irish guy who’s been shortlisted for a job in Minnesota teaching journalism. He wanted to pick my brains about doing the business in the States. Anyway, we couldn’t hear ourselves talk, so after about ten minutes, we went outside. We walked across to the fountain in that sort of plaza in the middle of the campus. I don’t know if you noticed, but it was a really mild night. Either that, or we’d both had enough drink not to notice the cold. Anyway, even the breeze felt warm, and my new friend had a quarter bottle of Irish, and so I just sat there and had the odd swallow and told it like it is in the US of A.”

“Okay. Two things. Did you leave before Tom Jack? And how long did you sit talking to this Irishman?” Jennifer asked, flipping back a couple of pages in her notebook and checking her notes of what Lindsay had already said.

“Tom was still in a huddle when we went out. As for how long, I can’t be sure. What I can tell you is that I parted company with the Irishman just after three o’clock. And before you ask, the reason I can be so precise about it is that I’d run out of things I felt I could usefully tell him, but he seemed happy to rabbit on all night. So I asked him what time it was and he looked at his watch and said it was ten past three. So I did the ‘Good God, is it really that time? I have to be up in the morning’ routine and got to my feet. His room wasn’t in Maclintock Tower, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.”

“His name?” Jennifer asked, pen poised like a stake over a vampire’s heart.

Lindsay pulled a wry face. “Good question. I wish I knew the answer. He’s the nearest thing I’ve got to an alibi, since there can only have been a few minutes between me leaving him and screaming my head off to raise the alarm.”

Jennifer looked close to exasperation. “You mean, your alibi witness is a man you’ve never met before, whose name you don’t know, and who was quite probably drunk?”

“That’s about the size of it.”

Chapter 5

5

“The rooms we offer delegates typically don’t offer a high degree of security. We therefore urge you not to bring your diamonds along on the off chance of being invited to the Broadcasting Branch dinner. By Friday morning, chances are even your paracetamol won’t be safe.”

from “Advice for New Delegates”, a Standing Orders Sub-Committee booklet.