There was a sudden disturbance in the corridor outside and then the door was thrown open and Miller walked in. Behind him, Jack Brady and Carver glowered at each other, chest to chest. Stratton took one quick, fluid step forward like a ballet dancer, his right hand sliding into his pocket, and Miller raised a finger warningly.

‘You do and I’ll break your arm.’

Vernon sat there, apparently unmoved, a slight smile hooked firmly into place. ‘Do come in,’ he said ironically.

‘I intend to,’ Miller told him. ‘Get rid of these two. We’ve got business.’

‘Now look here, you bastard,’ Carver began and Vernon’s voice rang across the room like cold steel.

‘I’ll call if I need you.’

Carver and Stratton obeyed without another murmur and as the door closed behind them, Vernon grinned. ‘Good discipline – that’s what I like to see.’

‘Once a Guardsman, always a Guardsman, is that it?’ Miller said.

‘The most exclusive private club in the world.’ Vernon fitted a cigarette into a green jade holder and gave a mock sigh. ‘You’ve been checking up on me, Sergeant.’

‘And how,’ Miller said. ‘The Yard was more than interested to hear you’d turned up again.’

‘Let’s get one thing clear,’ Vernon said. ‘I run a perfectly legitimate business here and that applies to everything else I own. If you’ve anything else to say, I suggest you discuss it with my lawyers.’

He reached for the telephone and Miller said calmly, ‘We pulled Joanna Craig out of the river this morning, Vernon.’

For a brief moment only Vernon’s hand tightened on the ’phone and then an expression of shock appeared on his face.

‘Joanna – in the river? But this doesn’t make sense. You’re quite sure it is her?’

‘Why shouldn’t we be?’

‘The fact is, I understood she’d been living under an assumed name. Nothing sinister – just to stop her family from running her down. She’d had trouble at home.’ He shook his head. ‘This is terrible – terrible.’

It was all there, beautifully detailed by a steeltrap mind which had assessed the situation in a matter of seconds and had come up with the only possible counter with the speed of a computer.

‘When did you first meet her?’

The answer came without the slightest hesitation.

‘About four months ago. Someone brought her along to one of my parties. I discovered she was a very talented artist. I wanted some murals for the club and she agreed to accept the commission. It was as simple as that.’

‘And that was all – just a business arrangement?’

‘The murals are on the wall of the main casino, you can see them for yourself,’ Vernon said. ‘Anything else that was between us is no damned business of yours. She wasn’t a child. She had a good body and she liked the pleasures of the flesh as much as the rest of us.’