“I’m Inspector Cliff Jackson,” he introduced himself. “And you must be our elusive private eye.”

“Good morning, Inspector,” I replied politely. “I’m Kate Brannigan, of Mortensen and Brannigan.”

“I know exactly who you are, Miss Brannigan,” he countered, a note of irritation in his gravelly Lancashire voice. “What I want to know is why you felt it necessary to go round interfering with witnesses.”

“I haven’t been interfering with anyone,” I returned. “If you mean rounding up the inhabitants, I was simply doing what your sergeant asked.”

“As you well know, he wouldn’t have let you near one of them if he’d known the way you earn a living.”

“Inspector, if anyone had bothered to ask what I do, I’d have

“That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said so far,” he grumbled as he made a note on his pad. We went through the formal routine that prefaces the taking of a statement, then he pushed his glasses up and massaged the bridge of his nose with surprisingly wellmanicured fingers. “So, what were you doing here tonight?” he asked.

“It was a social call. We did a job for Jett some time ago, and he told me to drop in whenever I was passing. So I did.” It sounded thin, even to me, but I could only hope he thought I was a bit starstruck.

“You were just passing at this time of night?” he challenged sarcastically, letting his glasses slip back into place. “You normally drop in on people this late?”

“Of course not,” I countered. “But I knew Jett keeps late hours. I’d been working and I was wide awake, so rather than go home and bounce off the walls I thought I’d stop off for a coffee. Besides, it wasn’t that late when I got here. It can’t have been that much after midnight.”

He clearly wasn’t happy with the scenario, but he didn’t have anything to contradict it yet, so he let it go for now. I outlined the version of events I’d agreed with Jett, hoping he’d remembered what he was supposed to say. I had plenty of time to think between sentences, since the detective who’d collared me was carefully writing it into a statement.

After we’d exhausted the subject of the discovery of the body, Jackson asked plenty of questions about the household and their movements, but I didn’t have any answers. Frustrated, he gave up on that line and asked, “What was the nature of this job your firm did for Jett?”

I’d hoped we wouldn’t get to that till I’d had a chance to discuss the matter with Bill. I took a deep breath and recited, “The nature of our business is confidential. I am afraid that is a private matter between Mortensen and Brannigan and our client.”