“So I’m glad I’m no longer wanted at the castle,” she said. “Except I expect they’ll call me in to do a final cleanup after the Garda have finished their investigation.”

“Were you there when the American man’s body was found?” I asked. “Did you actually see it?”

“I didn’t,” she said. “There were Garda at the gate when I arrived first thing next morning and they didn’t want to let me in, but wouldn’t tell me why. Then they said the inspector would want to question me. Mickey, the man who worked for Mr. Roach, met me as I was coming up the stairs. He looked terrible—white-faced and his eyes just sort of staring. I said to him, ‘What’s the matter? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost yourself,’ and he said, ‘No ghost. But it was horrible. I found Mr. Roach lying on the library floor with his head bashed in last night.’”

“He seemed really upset by this, did he?” I asked.

“Upset? He looked as if he might pass out at any minute. And I’m thankful that he discovered the body, not me, or I might have gone in there to dust and stumbled upon it myself.”

While we had been talking we had left the village and the castle wall appeared before us.

“So you want me to take you to the lodge and not the castle, Mrs. McNalley?” Darcy asked. “Is that shopping you have there for my father?”

“It is, Mr. Darcy. You see, I had no idea he’d been allowed to come back home. And with you staying there too, I thought you’d want some proper food, not the odd bits and pieces your father has been living on.”

“It’s very kind of you to think of us.”

“Oh, I’d do anything in the world for your family, Mr. Darcy,” she said. “I know your father hasn’t been the easiest man in recent years, but I can understand what he’s been through and that would have broken most of us. And your family is the only family I have, so to speak.”

Darcy pulled up on the lane outside the lodge, stopped the car and came around to open her door. “Let me carry the bags for you, Mrs. McNalley.” He looked back at me. “I won’t be a minute.”

As they started to walk away I heard her voice, loud and clear. “You can’t fool me, Mr. Darcy. I know who that young lady is.”

Oh crikey, I thought. Now it really will be all over the village. I waited for Darcy to return, expecting him to be upset and angry, but instead he came back with a big smile on his face.

“What?” I asked. “What did she say?”