Mr. Smedley appeared in the doorway, announcing that the chief inspector had given him permission to leave, so he was heading back to London. He could not have looked more relieved. Then Jack returned, and Edwina went in his place, presumably to give the chief inspector a piece of her mind. I didn’t envy him.

“How was it?” I asked Jack when he took a seat on the sofa opposite.

Jack shrugged. “He didn’t really ask me much.”

Edwina came back shortly afterward, her mouth still pursed in annoyance. “Really, that man has no manners at all,” she said. “I suppose it was to be expected, coming from the north like that. One doesn’t associate dark, satanic mills with good manners, does one? Do go and put out your feelers, Mr. O’Mara. The sooner a competent man from Scotland Yard comes to take over here, the better.”

Huxstep appeared again to say that the sergeant was still taking statements from the servants, and Mrs. Broad wanted to inform Her Grace that luncheon might be a little delayed.

“As if the servants would know anything useful,” Edwina said. “What does he think we do—hire a pack of ex-convicts to work in the house? Almost all of them have been with us for years, and their parents before them. Until recently, it was considered a great honor to serve the Dukes of Eynsford. Alas, the Great War turned the world all topsy-turvy, and too many young people now believe that domestic service is beneath them. Though why they should think a noisy office or a dirty factory is preferable, I don’t know.”

I watched her talking, noticing how she seemed to be the only one who wanted to chat. Was it to hide her nerves? I wondered. To stop herself from thinking about her dead son? To give the appearance that nothing was wrong and life would go on smoothly at Kingsdowne?

One by one, the inhabitants of the house went to the library and returned. I could read relief in each of their faces, especially in those of the three Starlings.

“He wasn’t brutal at all,” Justin said as he joined Adrian and Simon. “Quite pleasant, actually. Asked if anyone had a grudge against Cedric and I said all sorts of people.”

“Justin, you didn’t!” A yelp of horror from Adrian.

“Well, it was true, wasn’t it? I told him that Cedric wasn’t the easiest person to get along with and probably put everyone’s back up at the theater when they were rehearsing for that new play. Just because he was backing it, he thought it gave him carte blanche to change everything—and of course he knows nothing about the theater, really. I mean, knew. He knew nothing. I still can’t believe that he’s gone.”

“Do you think that someone from the theater would come all the way down here to kill Cedric then?” I asked.