They dressed and made their way down the stairs. ‘I hope there is sun this morning,’ whispered Rose. ‘It was overcast yesterday.’

They stood together on the lawn and waited. The sky was clear, with only a few wisps of cloud, which turned pink in the rays of the rising sun.

Their eyes swept along the thick wisteria which covered the front of the house.

‘There!’ whispered Rose, clutching Daisy’s arm in excitement. ‘There’s something sparkling amongst the leaves half-way up. Let’s tell Kerridge.’

‘He’s at The Feathers and the policeman at the gate won’t let us past,’ said Daisy. ‘The press are probably still lurking about. He usually comes here at eight in the morning. Not long to wait.’

Daisy suddenly grasped Rose’s arm. ‘I think someone was watching us, I saw a curtain twitch.’

‘Let’s get back inside and wait for Kerridge,’ said Rose, looking uneasily up at the windows. ‘I can’t see anything.’

Harry went in to see Kerridge just after eight o’clock and found Rose and Daisy already there. ‘These young ladies,’ said Kerridge, ‘had the idea that our murderer may have dropped the syringe into the wisteria. You were right about the drugging. The preliminary autopsy confirms that she was drugged with a powerful sleeping-potion. I’ve sent my men to get ladders. Come with me, Lady Rose, and point out exactly where you think you saw something shining in the leaves.’

Harry was furious. Rose had lied to him. He followed them out, angrily reminding himself that he had never really liked her anyway.

As Harry stood apart from her, his hands behind his back, and his brows down, Rose felt ashamed of herself. She went up to him. ‘I would have told you the truth but I thought you would think my idea silly.’

‘No, you didn’t,’ he said curtly. ‘You wanted to prove that you were better at detecting than I.’

He walked a little way away from her.

‘I thought you might have told me,’ said Becket to Daisy.

Daisy shrugged. ‘If she won’t, I can’t.’

Rose pointed to where she had seen something shining. Kerridge told the policemen to put the ladder up against the house at that point and begin the search.

Rose kept glancing at Harry’s set face. She knew in that instant that anything he found out about the case he would keep to himself in future.

The policeman on the ladder gave a shout. ‘I see it!’

‘Lift it with your hankie,’ shouted Kerridge. ‘Don’t want your prints on it. Is it a syringe?’

‘Yes.’

Kerridge turned to Rose. ‘Good work, my lady,’ he said. ‘We should have you on the force.’

Then he turned to Harry. ‘Let’s go inside. I want to discuss this.’

He waited until the policeman had climbed down the ladder and then he and Harry walked off together, followed by Becket and Inspector Judd.