‘Well, I do.’ He moved to the fire and tossed his cigarette into the flames. ‘You say she was found about an hour ago?’

‘That’s right.’ Faulkner glanced up at the clock. It was just coming on to eleven thirty-five and Mallory said, ‘What time did she leave here?’

Faulkner turned slowly. ‘Who said she was here at all?’ He looked at Miller with a frown. ‘Have you been bothering Joanna?’

Miller shook his head. ‘When I telephoned, the party was still going strong from the sound of things. I spoke to the maid. She told me that you and the girl had left together.’

‘All right – she was here, but for no more than ten minutes. I left at half-ten.’

‘Which would indicate that she was murdered almost immediately,’ Mallory said.

‘Is this another of those Rainlover things?’

‘We can’t be sure yet. Let’s say it falls into a familiar pattern.’

‘Two in two days.’ Faulkner was by now quite obviously over the initial shock. ‘He’s getting out of hand.’

Miller watched his every move, slightly puzzled. The man actually seemed to be enjoying the whole sorry business. He wondered what Faulkner had in his veins instead of blood and the big man said, ‘I hope you won’t mind me asking, but am I first on the list?’

‘This is an informal interview, sir, solely to help us in our enquiries,’ Mallory told him. ‘Of course you’re perfectly entitled to have your solicitor present.’

‘Wouldn’t dream of dragging him away from the party,’ Faulkner said. ‘He deserves it. You just fire away. I’ll do anything I can to help.’

‘You made a rather puzzling remark when we first came in,’ Miller said. ‘Something about a viper discovering that it could sting. What did you mean by that?’

‘I might as well tell you, I suppose. I’ve been working rather hard lately and completely forgot about Joanna’s birthday party. A friend, Mr Jack Morgan, called for me and we stopped in at The King’s Arms in Lazer Street for a quick one. While we were there, the girl came in.’

‘And you got into conversation?’ Mallory said.

‘On the contrary, I picked her up quite deliberately. She was waiting for her boyfriend and he was late. I invited her to the party.’

‘Why did you do that, sir?’

‘Because I knew it would be infested by a miserable bunch of stuffed shirts and I thought she might liven things up a bit. She was that sort of girl. Ask Miller, he was paying enough attention to her from what I could see. An honest tart. Hair out of a bottle and a skirt that barely covered her backside.’

‘You were at the party for about twenty minutes before I left,’ Miller said. ‘You couldn’t have stayed for long.’

‘About half an hour in all.’

‘And the girl left with you?’

‘You already know that, for Christ’s sake.’ He swung on Mallory. ‘Are you sure you won’t have that drink?’