‘The Matador! Roderick, how naughty of them! It just simply isn’t done by débutantes. No, really that was very naughty.’

Alleyn was both relieved and surprised to find that this departure from débutantes’ etiquette took momentary precedence over Lady Carrados’s other troubles.

‘They had only just arrived, I imagine, when I ran into them there. The place was only half-full, Evelyn. It was too early for the smart people. I shouldn’t think anyone else saw them. I brought them on here.’

‘I’m very glad you did,’ she said doubtfully.

‘Was that all that worried you?’

‘No. It’s Herbert. He’s been so extraordinary, Roderick, since this tragedy. He’s stayed indoors all day and he never takes his eyes off me. I was afraid he would give up this dinner tonight, but, thank Heaven, he didn’t. It is followed by the annual regimental dance and he has to present trophies or something so it will keep him quite late. I should have gone too, but I couldn’t face it. I couldn’t face another hour with him. He keeps making curious hints as if he—Roderick, almost as if he suspected me of something.’

‘Tell me what he says.’

She leant back in her chair and relaxed. He saw that, not for the first time, he was to play the part of confidant. ‘An odd rôle for a CID man,’ he thought, ‘and a damn useful one.’ He settled himself to listen.