“So nobody came to visit that you know of. He never went out.” Darcy shook his head. “This is a ridiculous puzzle.”

I had been trying to collect my thoughts, to make the most of this opportunity to talk with Darcy’s father, just in case it was never repeated. “Do you know if a professor from an American university came to visit him?” I asked. “Or a priest? Because they were both seen near the main gate.”

Lord Kilhenny nodded. “That’s right. There was an American professor. He said he had come to visit the dig and asked if there were any rooms for rent in the castle. I laughed and told him what I knew about Roach. He thanked me and went on his way.”

“That was all he asked you?”

“I didn’t exactly invite him in for a cup of tea,” he said. “He said something about the front gate being locked and I told him there was a telephone to the castle if he wanted to be admitted. And he asked if that was the only way in.”

“You didn’t tell him about the little door in the wall, did you?” Darcy asked.

“Of course not. Do you think I’m stupid?” he snapped, then seemed to collect himself. “No. I saw no reason to disclose that.”

“And the priest?” I asked. “A young priest asked about him. Did he come here?”

Lord Kilhenny shook his head, then he said, “Wait. There was someone. Not a priest, a doctor. About a month ago Roach wasn’t feeling well. A doctor was summoned, but not the local quack. In fact I rather think he was American. Mickey, his valet, told me that he was going to fetch the doctor. I asked if it was serious and Mickey said no, probably just a bad cold but Mr. Roach wanted to be sure. Then, later that day, I was coming from the garage, having just parked the estate wagon, when I overheard an exchange at the front of the house. Roach sounded rather put out. He said something like ‘How do you think they discovered?’ and there was some kind of answer in a deep voice that I didn’t quite catch. Then he said, ‘What now? I can’t go through an operation like that again. Once was bad enough.’ And then another reply and I came around the corner to see the doctor getting into the motorcar and Roach said, ‘Thanks for telling me, although I’ve no doubt you’ll want to be well paid for coming to see me.’ And Mickey drove him off.”

“That’s interesting.” Darcy looked at us for confirmation. “It sounds as if he had some kind of medical condition that had reappeared. He’d had an operation and now he needed a second one. Maybe that’s why he came over to Ireland, because he knew he was dying and he wanted to be alone.”

Chapter 25