‘Bantling. My first. Andy’s papa. You knew Boo. Don’t be so stuffy.’

Alleyn, who did in fact remember this singularly ineffectual peer, made no reply.

‘And, I may add,’ Lady Bantling said, apparently as an afterthought, ‘Bimbo considered it a jolly good bet. And he’s got a flair for that sort of thing, Bimbo has. As a matter of fact Bimbo offered –’ She broke off and seemed to cock an ear. Alleyn had already heard steps in the hall. ‘Here, I do believe, he is!’ Desirée exclaimed and called out loudly: ‘Bimbo!’

‘Hallo!’ said a distant voice, rather crossly.

‘Come in here, darling.’

The door opened and Bimbo Dodds came in. Alleyn now remembered where he had seen him.

IV

The recognition, Alleyn felt sure, was mutual though Bimbo gave no sign of this. They had last met on the occasion of a singularly disreputable turn-up in a small but esoteric night-club. There had been a stabbing, subsequent revelations involving a person of consequence and a general damping-down process ending in a scantily publicized conviction. Benedict Arthur Dodds, Alleyn recollected, had been one of a group of fashionable gentlemen who had an undercover financial interest in the club which had come to an abrupt and discreditable end and an almost immediate reincarnation under another name. Bimbo had appeared briefly in court, been stared at coldly by the magistrate, and was lucky to escape the headlines. At the time, Alleyn recollected, Bimbo was stated to be a declared bankrupt. It was before his marriage to Desirée.

She introduced them. Bimbo, who had the slightly mottled complexion of a man who has slept heavily in the afternoon, nodded warily and glanced at the tray. His right hand was neatly bandaged and he did not offer it to Alleyn.

‘The Super and I, darling,’ Desirée said, ‘are boy-and-girl chums. He was starving and I’ve given him a snack. He’s jolly famous nowadays, so isn’t it nice to have him grilling us?’

‘Oh, really?’ said Bimbo. ‘Ha-ha. Yes.’

‘You must answer all his questions very carefully because it seems as if Hal was murdered. Imagine!’

Interpreting this speech to be in the nature of a general warning, Alleyn said: ‘I wonder if I may have a word with you, Mr Dodds.’ And to Desirée: ‘Thank you so much for my delicious luncheon-without-prejudice.’

For a split second she looked irritated and then she said: ‘Not a bit. Do I gather that you want to go into a huddle with my husband?’

‘Just a word,’ Alleyn said equably, ‘if we may. Perhaps somewhere else –’

‘Not at all. I’ll go and snip the dead heads off roses except that there aren’t any roses and it’s the wrong time of the year.’

‘Perhaps you could get on with your embroidery,’ said Alleyn and had the satisfaction of seeing her blink.

‘Suppose,’ she suggested, ‘that you adjourn to Bimbo’s study. Why not?’