“And if we find out?” Darcy asked. The bleakness had now returned to his face. “I can’t see how it would help prove my father’s innocence. I’m sure my father wouldn’t have doped one of his horses, but enough people believe that he did. And it only gives him another motive for murder if he felt he was wrongly sacked from his job. The prosecution will make hay with it.”

I touched his hand on the steering wheel. “I know it all looks awful and hopeless, but maybe we’ll find a glimmer of hope soon. Actually we’ve already got one. That club that Dooley was talking about. If it really is as priceless as he says then maybe someone did sneak in to steal it. Roach confronted him and he swung the club.”

“But then the club would have had someone else’s fingerprints on it, not just my father’s.”

“Doesn’t that strike you as odd?” I asked. “Just your father’s prints? Think how many other people must have handled that club.”

“Maybe they mean recent and clear prints, as opposed to old and smudged ones.”

“If you think we can get onto the grounds we should trace your father’s route. If he was as drunk as he says, he would have bumped into things, maybe left a bloody fingerprint somewhere.”

“You forget it’s been raining for several days. Wouldn’t any traces have been washed away?”

I slapped his hand now. “You’re being negative, Darcy. This isn’t like you. The Darcy I know is game for anything, takes on the hardest challenge. Anything I suggest, you shoot down. I came over here to help you, you know.”

He managed a weak smile. “I’m sorry. Yes, I am being negative, I know. I just can’t seem to find much hope.”

“I’m here. I’m beside you no matter what. Doesn’t that make you feel a tiny bit better?”

“It should do, but all I can think is that I don’t want you to go through this. I really wish you were miles and miles away.”

I sat beside him in silence. Was I being selfish to give him additional worry? Should I admit defeat and go back to London, let him wallow in his own misery and face things by himself?

“All right,” I said at last. “If that’s what you really want. I’ll collect my things from Aunt Oona’s and go home. But I would like to point out to you that I do have some experience with this sort of thing. And I am prepared to believe that your father is innocent until someone hands me irrefutable proof that he’s guilty.”