The party had just about folded and the guests had departed except for Jack Morgan and Frank Marlowe who sat at the bar with Joanna and her aunt, having a final drink before leaving.

The door bell chimed and Joanna looked up in surprise. ‘Now, who on earth can that be?’

‘Probably Bruno,’ her aunt remarked acidly. ‘Returning to tell you that all is forgiven.

‘Well, it won’t work – not this time.’ Joanna was annoyed. ‘He can stew for a while.’

There was another ring and Frank Marlowe started to rise. ‘I’d better go …’

‘No I’ll handle it. I’ll see him myself.’

She opened the door, braced for her encounter and found Nick Miller standing there. ‘Why, Nick,’ she said in bewilderment.

‘Could I come in for a moment?’

‘Certainly.’ She hesitated. ‘I’m afraid nearly everyone’s gone home. We’re just having a final drink. Why don’t you join us?’

‘I’d better not,’ he said. ‘To tell you the truth, I’m here on business.’

As she closed the door, she stiffened then turned very slowly. ‘Bruno? Something has happened to Bruno?’

Miller shook his head quickly. ‘He’s perfectly all right – I’ve just been speaking to him. There was a girl here earlier – a girl called Grace Packard. He brought her with him, didn’t he?’

Jack Morgan got up from his stool and came forward. ‘That’s right, but she left some time ago. Look here, Miller, what is this?’

‘As I said, I’ve already spoken to Faulkner. She went back to his studio with him and left at approximately ten-thirty. She was found by a police officer less than fifteen minutes later in an alley a couple of streets away.’

There was a shocked gasp from Mary Beresford and Marlowe said in a whisper, ‘You mean she’s dead?’

‘That’s right. Murdered. Her neck was broken, probably by a sharp blow from the rear.’

‘The Rainlover,’ Mary Beresford said so quietly that it might have been a sigh.

‘It could be,’ Miller said. ‘On the other hand that kind of killer tends to work to a pattern and it’s a little close to his last one.’ He turned to Morgan. ‘You’ve been here all the time?’

‘Since I arrived at eight-thirty or so.’

‘I can confirm that,’ Joanna said quickly. ‘We all can.’

‘Look here,’ Marlowe said. ‘Can we know where we stand? Is this an official call?’

‘Just an enquiry.’ Miller turned to Joanna again. ‘I understand from your fiancé that he didn’t stay very long. Isn’t that rather unusual considering that it was your birthday party?’

‘Bruno’s very much a law unto himself,’ she said calmly.

Mary Beresford came in under full sail. ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake tell the truth about him for once, Joanna. He didn’t stay long because he was asked to leave.’

‘And why was that?’