“Of course I want to be there,” the inspector snapped. “I’ll find out where the old lady will let us set up shop and get to work. I don’t fancy going all the way back to Sevenoaks.”

“What about something to eat, sir?” the constable asked. “It’s getting close to dinnertime. Can me and the lads pop to a pub in the village?”

“Let’s see if they’re going to feed us here. I’m not wasting an hour with you lot strolling to the village and having a good pub lunch. Perhaps their cook can make us some sandwiches.”

“Very good, sir.” The young constable looked deflated, as if sandwiches would be a poor alternative to a good meat pie or bangers and mash. I was hesitating, not sure that our conversation was at an end or what it might have achieved. When the chief inspector started back toward the group around the fireplace, I followed him.

“Well?” Edwina asked. “Are we to be kept here all day? Are my staff still prisoners of your men in the servants’ hall? Our luncheon hour is rapidly approaching, and I can’t expect Cook to work miracles in five minutes.”

“So sorry to have kept you, Your Grace,” he said. I wasn’t sure whether it was meant to be sarcastic. “But I don’t think I’ll need you anymore—for the time being. And my sergeant should have got a statement from each of your servants by now. So you’re free to go about your business—only nobody is to think of leaving the premises.”

“Very well,” Edwina said. “Please be kind enough to send me my butler so that we can return this house to normal. I’ve already had to endure cold coffee this morning.”

“And given the number of rooms there are in this house, perhaps you can suggest one that I might use for my headquarters? Preferably one with a telephone in it?”

Edwina bristled. I could tell she really didn’t want to have Chief Inspector Fairbotham setting up shop in her home, but given the fact that she did have many surplus rooms, she couldn’t think of a good excuse for his not staying. “I suppose you might use my son’s study,” she said grudgingly. “There is a telephone extension in there, although of course it connects to the main telephone in the front hall, and I couldn’t guarantee that your calls would necessarily be confidential.”