I came down the grand staircase thoughtfully. Belinda had been my best pal at school. She’d already been worldly wise and had helped me navigate the shark-infested waters of finishing school and being away from the nursery for the first time. In many ways she was a good friend—but in other ways, she was just like my mother. To her, other people were put on this planet for her personal use. I thought of the way she’d dismissed Cedric’s death as an inconvenience to her rather than as the terrible tragedy that it was. It doesn’t matter who is the victim—murder is still the most terrible of crimes.

We came down to the central hall just as the inspector was entering the front door. The rain had obviously picked up again, and his thinning hair was plastered to his head. His face was bright red from the exertion of walking up the hill. It was not a pretty sight. He paused in the doorway to catch his breath, dripping water onto the marble floor.

“Ah, there you are, Lady Georgiana. I’m glad to see you. I’d like a little word, if you don’t mind.”

I shot Belinda a look of apprehension. “I’ll go and see how Darcy and the others are getting along,” she said. “Maybe Jack has put in an appearance.”

Left alone with Chief Inspector Fairbotham, I waited to find out what he wanted, and hoped it wasn’t to go back to the glen and view the body again. He eased that fear by saying, “The police surgeon has just arrived and is with the body now. So is our photographer. Not a pleasant thing for a young girl like you to have witnessed.”

“No, not very pleasant,” I agreed.

“Lady Georgiana,” he said. “I wonder if I might have a word with you in private?”

“I believe Her Grace has put the library at your disposal,” I said. “Perhaps you’d like to make that your headquarters, so to speak.”

“Good idea,” he said. “At least it’s nice and warm in there. Miserable old day outside, isn’t it?”

I agreed that it was as I led him down the hall to the library.

“I’m not sure that I can be of any help, Chief Inspector,” I said tentatively. “I’ve already given you my account of how I found the body.”

“What I really want from you is some background,” he said. “So that I don’t start out at a disadvantage, you know.” He looked at me and nodded. “You seem like a sensible, levelheaded kind of girl. Didn’t have hysterics on finding a body. Had the presence not to touch anything at the murder scene. And I understand that you’re not related to anyone here?”