She stared at me. ‘Good heavens! It’s not a criminal offence to make a pass at the boss’s wife. Besides, he’s a good editor for the Chronicle.’

‘Did your husband know about this?’

‘No. And after that I kept out of Jackson’s way. I haven’t given him another chance.’ She picked up her glass. ‘So what did he really tell you?’

‘Nothing about you,’ I said, and wondered whether to pursue the matter. Conceivably I might have a further use for Jackson and if I didn’t tattle-tale to Jill Salton then I’d have a club to hold over his head. ‘Let’s talk about someone else. Do you know of a man called Negrini?’

She sat up. ‘Mr Black – who doesn’t? But, for a stranger, you’ve been getting around.’

‘Not really,’ I said modestly. ‘It’s just that I’m exceptionally brilliant at my job. Do you know him personally?’

‘Yes.’

‘And did your husband?’

‘Of course. Gerry is very much a part of the social life of this island.’

‘Good. I’d like to meet him.’

‘Now that might be difficult, Bill. You see, Gerry is not available to all. He picks and chooses very carefully those with whom he associates. I doubt if you’d get near him. What do you want to see him about?’

‘I can’t tell you that,’ I said honestly. ‘It’s a private matter.’ I didn’t want to tell her that I was investigating her husband’s connections with the gambling interests. If she didn’t know about it the news might come as a shock, because she had given all the indications of believing him to be a genuine liberal.

‘Does it concern David?’

‘No,’ I lied. ‘It’s about something that came up just before I left England.’ Lying was something else that went with the job.

‘Is it urgent?’

‘Yes, in the sense that I have very little time on Campanilla.’

‘All right, I’ll introduce you. Would tonight be soon enough?’ She was smiling.

‘You can do it as quickly as that?’

‘Why not? All we have to do is to go into San Martin – to the Blue Water Casino. We’ll have dinner here first – I’ll even cook it myself. I don’t get into the kitchen nearly enough.’

John came down to the poolside carrying a telephone. ‘A call for Mr Kemp,’ he said.

That was Ogilvie. I had rung his hotel to find he was out so I had left the Salton number for him to call. As John bent to plug the telephone jack into a socket in the wall of the house, I said quickly, ‘I’d rather take it inside.’

Jill sighed. ‘Oh, more secrets!’ She turned to John. ‘Mr Kemp will use an inside phone – and tell Anna she needn’t stay on.’

‘Very well, ma’am.’

‘And you can go off yourself, John, at any time.’