I did see. In fact I was still shivering. But a whisper was nagging at the back of my mind. I had asked Barney about Professor Peabody, and he had died. And Mickey had observed us on his way to the pub. Had he waited until we drove off, then asked Barney to drive him, and then orchestrated his death? Hit him on the head and then taken off the brake and headed him for the river, maybe? It was now clear to me that this whole business was much more than a burglary gone wrong, a simple feud. It was well thought-out and I suspected that Mickey was at the heart of it. I prayed that our fingerprints would reveal something of importance.

“You were brilliant to save us, Darcy,” Zou Zou said. “I hope they delivered my goodies before the weather set in. I am in desperate need of a glass of champagne, aren’t you?”

“I thought you wanted tea and cakes,” I said.

“That was before the tragedy,” she said. “One needs something stronger to bolster the nerves.”

Oona met us at the front door. “Beastly night. Glad you made it safely. Dooley was getting worried,” she said. “Are you staying for dinner, Darcy? I’ve cooked the pheasant that Her Highness so kindly had delivered. I hope that was all right?”

“All right? It was splendid,” Zou Zou said. “And I hope the champagne was delivered too?”

“Out in the washhouse, keeping cold,” Oona said.

“I’m afraid I can’t stay, Aunt Oona,” Darcy said. “I should get back to my father before the snow gets too thick.”

“It’s a damned blizzard out there. We hardly ever see snow, at least not like this. I wonder if it will be a white Christmas.”

It was funny but I had completely forgotten that Christmas was approaching. It was as if time had stood still since Darcy and I had driven north that night.

“You have to stay and have a drink first, Darcy,” Zou Zou said. “Steady your nerves.”

“Steady his nerves?” Oona asked. “What for?”

“There was a nasty accident at the bridge,” Darcy said.

“I thought I heard the bell of a police car,” she said. “What happened?”

“It was the taxi from Kildare.”

“Poor old Barney? We’ve used him a few times when Dooley didn’t feel like driving. Nice chap. A bit too friendly. Or should one say nosy. Is he all right?”

“He’s dead,” I heard myself saying. “His car went into the water.”

“How terribly sad. What a shock for you to come upon that. A cup of tea, do you think, or something stronger? Brandy?”

“I think we should open a champagne,” Zou Zou said. “Not that we’ve anything to celebrate, but I find it always goes down well at moments of stress.”