‘You didn’t land at, or near, the boathouse?’

De Sousa shook his head.

‘Did you see anyone at the boathouse as you passed?’

‘See anyone? No. Should I have seen anyone?’

‘It was just a possibility. You see, Mr De Sousa, the murdered girl was in the boathouse this afternoon. She was killed there, and she must have been killed at a time not very distant from when you were passing.’

Again De Sousa raised his eyebrows.

‘You think I might have been a witness to this murder?’

‘The murder took place inside the boathouse, but you might have seen the girl – she might have looked out from the window or come out on to the balcony. If you had seen her it would, at any rate, have narrowed the time of death for us. If, when you’d passed, she’d been still alive –’

‘Ah. I see. Yes, I see. But why ask me particularly? There are plenty of boats going up and down from Helmmouth. Pleasure steamers. They pass the whole time. Why not ask them?’

‘We shall ask them,’ said the inspector. ‘Never fear, we shall ask them. I am to take it, then, that you saw nothing unusual at the boathouse?’

‘Nothing whatever. There was nothing to show there was anyone there. Of course I did not look at it with any special attention, and I did not pass very near. Somebody might have been looking out of the windows, as you suggest, but if so I should not have seen that person.’ He added in a polite tone, ‘I am very sorry that I cannot assist you.’

‘Oh, well,’ said Inspector Bland in a friendly manner, ‘we can’t hope for too much. There are just a few other things I would like to know, Mr De Sousa.’

‘Yes?’

‘Are you alone down here or have you friends with you on this cruise?’

‘I have had friends with me until quite recently, but for the last three days I have been on my own – with the crew, of course.’

‘And the name of your yacht, Mr De Sousa?’

‘The Espérance.’

‘Lady Stubbs is, I understand, a cousin of yours?’

De Sousa shrugged his shoulders.

‘A distant cousin. Not very near. In the islands, you must understand, there is much inter-marrying. We are all cousins of one another. Hattie is a second or third cousin. I have not seen her since she was practically a little girl, fourteen – fifteen.’

‘And you thought you would pay her a surprise visit today?’

‘Hardly a surprise visit, Inspector. I had already written to her.’

‘I know that she received a letter from you this morning, but it was a surprise to her to know that you were in this country.’

‘Oh, but you are wrong there, Inspector. I wrote to my cousin – let me see, three weeks ago. I wrote to her from France just before I came across to this country.’

The inspector was surprised.