‘Well, one evening Mrs Legge told all our fortunes and was so good at it that it was decided we’d have a fortune teller’s tent as one of the attractions and that Mrs Legge should put on Eastern dress and be Madame Zuleika and tell fortunes at half a crown a time. I don’t think that’s really illegal, is it, Inspector? I mean it’s usually done at these kind of fêtes?’

Inspector Bland smiled faintly.

‘Fortune telling and raffles aren’t always taken too seriously, Miss Brewis,’ he said. ‘Now and then we have to – er – make an example.’

‘But usually you’re tactful? Well, that’s how it was. Mrs Legge agreed to help us that way and so we had to find somebody else to do the body. The local Guides were helping us at the fête, and I think someone suggested that one of the Guides would do quite well.’

‘Just who was it who suggested that, Miss Brewis?’

‘Really, I don’t quite know…I think it may have been Mrs Masterton, the Member’s wife. No, perhaps it was Captain Warburton…Really, I can’t be sure. But, anyway, it was suggested.’

‘Is there any reason why this particular girl should have been chosen?’

‘N-no, I don’t think so. Her people are tenants on the estate, and her mother, Mrs Tucker, sometimes comes to help in the kitchen. I don’t know quite why we settled on her. Probably her name came to mind first. We asked her and she seemed quite pleased to do it.’

‘She definitely wanted to do it?’

‘Oh, yes, I think she was flattered. She was a very moronic kind of girl,’ continued Miss Brewis, ‘she couldn’t have acted a part or anything like that. But this was all very simple, and she felt she’d been singled out from the others and was pleased about it.’

‘What exactly was it that she had to do?’

‘She had to stay in the boathouse. When she heard anyone coming to the door she was to lie down on the floor, put the cord round her neck and sham dead.’ Miss Brewis’ tones were calm and businesslike. The fact that the girl who was to sham dead had actually been found dead did not at the moment appear to affect her emotionally.

‘Rather a boring way for the girl to spend the afternoon when she might have been at the fête,’ suggested Inspector Bland.

‘I suppose it was in a way,’ said Miss Brewis, ‘but one can’t have everything, can one? And Marlene did enjoy the idea of being the body. It made her feel important. She had a pile of papers and things to read to keep her amused.’

‘And something to eat as well?’ said the inspector. ‘I noticed there was a tray down there with a plate and glass.’