She led me downstairs again, moving with surprising agility for one so large. We ate a good lunch at the kitchen table and by midafternoon my room was indeed warm and toasty. I unpacked my clothes, asking myself what I was doing here and whether I could be any use at all to Darcy. When I went through everything I had heard of the crime I’m afraid I was inclined to believe, as Darcy clearly did, that his father was guilty. The big question was: who else might have wanted Mr. Roach dead, had been able to get into the castle to kill him and was clever enough to frame Lord Kilhenny? I decided that one thing I could do would be to ask around in the village if they had noticed any strangers. Inhabitants of villages notice anyone who doesn’t belong. Snooping is a major sport in rural locations. I could also ask Barney whether he had driven anybody out to the castle recently, apart from the stream of newspapermen. And then I realized that there had been strangers in the vicinity. That archeological dig, right across the lane from the castle gates. I’d need to find out more about them if it ever stopped raining and they resumed their work. They were in a perfect position to spy on what went on at the castle. But again the question returned—why would anyone want to kill a reclusive American who apparently was devoted to horses and books?

I came up with an answer to that one pretty quickly. He was rich. Rich enough to buy a castle and a racing stable. He had inherited a fortune. He was supposedly the last surviving member of a family. But what if there was another claimant? Someone who would inherit if he was dead? In which case why not kill him in a more subtle manner? A quick bullet from behind a bush would have worked well. Bludgeoning someone to death with a club was bound to attract attention, and if the police discovered that another member of the Roach family was in Ireland, surely that gave someone apart from Darcy’s father a good motive.

This made me feel a little more hopeful. It’s always good to have something positive to work on. I wondered if the detective here had been in touch with the police in America and had checked into Mr. Roach’s family circumstances. That might be something we could suggest to them. Or to Darcy’s father’s lawyer.