“So in theory anyone could have crept into this tack room, removed the knife, followed the duke and killed him with it.”

“In theory,” Edwina replied. “Although I think you’ll find from our statements that nobody else was up and awake at that time.”

“Except us,” Nick said, and received a warning frown from his grandmother.

“Children should be seen and not heard, Nicholas. And we already know that you were safely in the nursery, where you belong.”

The log on the fire crackled and shifted, making everyone jump. The tension in the room was palpable. I found that I was holding my breath.

Chief Inspector Fairbotham paused before focusing on Jack again. “So remind me again, sir, what you were doing between seven and eight this morning?”

“I can answer that for him,” Sissy said quickly, before Jack could speak. “He was with me the whole time.”

“With you, little lady?” The inspector turned to look at the slight girl in her bath chair. She was sitting off to one side of the group, and had been ignored until now, a rug over her knees.

“That’s right.” Sissy tossed her head defiantly. “I’ve been helping Jack with his schoolwork. He hardly had any schooling, you know. And he didn’t want to look stupid, now that he’s the heir to a dukedom. So I was giving him extra reading practice.”

“Young lady, do you realize that perjury is a serious offense? You understand what perjury is, do you?”

Sissy shook her head.

“It is deliberately lying before a court of law, and it is punishable by a term in prison. Is that what you want? Or would you like to change your statement?”

Sissy’s face had turned very red but she said nothing.

“Listen, I was with Sissy early this morning but she didn’t know that I’d been out for a walk before that,” Jack said. He turned and gave his cousin a reassuring grin. “I already told you, Inspector, that I went out early, walked around a bit, went over to the stables and then came back inside because it was about to rain. Then I grabbed a quick breakfast and went up to see if Sissy was awake, as we’d agreed to do some more reading practice.”

“So you admit that you were at the stables, at the very place where the knife was stored in the unlocked tack room, early this morning?”

“Yes, but I didn’t go into the tack room. I went to see the horses. I feel comfortable around horses.”

“But you saw nobody and nobody saw you?”

“That’s right. It was early,” Jack said. “At least, early for a place like this. Back at home, we’d have had our tucker and been out with the sheep hours before that.”

He didn’t look nervous or uncomfortable, I noticed.

“So you never saw your uncle, the duke, at all?”