‘No one’s going to kill you.’ Miller held out the glass. ‘Drink this. You’ll feel better.’

She struggled up against the pillows. ‘You don’t know what he can be like.’

‘Max Vernon?’

She nodded and sipped some of her gin. ‘He’s a devil – a walking devil. Cruel, arrogant – anything he wants, he takes.’

‘And that included Joanna Craig?’

Her eyes widened in amazement. ‘How did you know that?’

‘Just a hunch. But tell me about it – everything that happened.’

‘All right.’ She swung her legs to the floor, stood up and paced restlessly about the room as she talked. ‘You were right about the College of Art. I knew Joanna for nearly two years. Not that we were close friends or anything like that. I liked to live it up. Joanna was more interested in her work.’

‘What about boyfriends?’

‘She hardly ever bothered. This may sound crazy to you, but she had something about her. She was sort of untouched by life if you know what I mean.’

‘I think I do,’ Miller said.

‘Not that there was anything weird about her. Everybody liked her. She was the sweetest person I’ve ever known, but they treated her with respect, particularly the men. That’s something for art students, believe me.’

‘And yet she changed,’ Miller said. ‘So utterly and completely that she might have been a different person. Why?’

‘She met Max Vernon.’

‘I wouldn’t have thought he was her type.’

‘He wasn’t – that was the whole trouble.’ She swallowed the rest of her gin and sat on the edge of the bed. ‘I answered an advertisement for female croupiers at the Flamingo. As I told you earlier, the money was so good that I dropped out of the college course and started working there. Max was always throwing big parties and he was pretty free and easy about us bringing our friends along.’

‘You took Joanna to one?’

‘That’s right. About four months ago. I bumped into her one afternoon quite by chance. There was a party that evening and I asked her to come on impulse. I never expected her to say yes, but she did.’

‘What happened?’

‘Max took a fancy to her. I don’t know what it was – maybe it was just her innocence. She was certainly different from every other girl there.’

‘Did she respond?’

‘Anything but and he tried everything, believe me. Then she passed out. I thought that maybe she’d had one gin too many or something. Max took charge. He said she could sleep it off there.’

‘And you left her?’

‘There was nothing I could do.’ She got to her feet and crossed to the window. ‘She ’phoned me here next day and asked me to meet her in town. Poor kid, she was in a hell of a state.’

‘I’m not surprised.’