Richard said quickly: ‘Why, because …’ And then, if possible, turned whiter than he had been before. He looked desperately at Alleyn, seemed to hover on the edge of an outburst and then said: ‘She must have. You say she was found there.’

‘Yes. She was found there.’

‘But why? Why would she use the plant spray at that moment? It sounds so crazy.’

‘I know. Very strange.’

Richard beat his hands together. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘I can’t get hold of myself. I’m sorry.’

Looking at him, Alleyn knew that he was in that particular state of emotional unbalance when he would be most vulnerable to pressure. He was a nice-looking chap, Alleyn thought. It was a sensitive face and yet, obscurely, it reminded him of one much less sensitive. But whose?’

He said: ‘You yourself have noticed two aspects of this tragic business that are difficult to explain. Because of them and because of normal police procedure I have to check as fully as possible the circumstances surrounding the event.’

‘Do you?’ Richard asked vaguely and then seemed to pull himself together. ‘Yes. Very well. What circumstances?’

‘I’m told you left the house before the birthday speeches. Is that right?’

Unlike the others, Richard appeared to feel no resentment or suspicion. ‘I?’ he said. ‘Oh, yes, I think I did. I don’t think they’d started. The cake had just been taken in.’

‘Why did you leave, Mr Dakers?’

‘I wanted to talk to Anelida,’ he said at once, and then:

‘Sorry. You wouldn’t know. Anelida Lee. She lives next door and …’ He stopped.

‘I do know that Miss Lee left early with her uncle. But it must have been a very important discussion, mustn’t it? To take you away at that juncture?’

‘Yes. It was. To me. It was private,’ Richard added. ‘A private matter.’

‘A long discussion?’

‘It didn’t happen.’

‘Not?’

‘She wasn’t – available.’ He produced a palpable understatement. ‘She wasn’t – feeling well.’

‘You saw her uncle?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was it about her part in your play – Husbandry in Heaven, isn’t it? – that you wanted to talk to her?’

Richard stared at him and for the first time seemed to take alarm. ‘Who told you about that?’ he demanded.

‘Timon Gantry.’

‘He did!’ Richard ejaculated and then, as if nothing could compete with the one overriding shock, added perfunctorily: ‘How extraordinary.’ But he was watching Alleyn now with a new awareness. ‘It was partly to do with that,’ he muttered.

Alleyn decided to fire point blank. ‘Was Miss Bellamy displeased with the plans for this new play?’ he asked. Richard’s hands made a sharp involuntary movement which was at once checked. His voice shook.

‘I told you this was a private matter,’ he said. ‘It is entirely private.’

‘I’m afraid there is very little room for privacy in a police inquiry.’