“Knowing Jack, he might have thumbed for a lift,” Darcy said. He turned the motorcar around and drove into the village. The streets also had a deserted air to them, and we realized it was early closing day with the shops all shut for the afternoon. We drove for a mile or so out toward Farningham and then up toward Crockenhill, but passed nobody along the way. Reluctantly, we retraced our steps for Kingsdowne.

As we pulled up in the forecourt and got out of the car, we saw a figure coming up from the lake toward us, and recognized Jack himself.

“Where have you been?” Darcy called. “We’ve been looking for you. The dowager duchess was worried you’d done a bunk.”

Jack grinned. “I couldn’t take it any longer. I nipped down to the pub in the village for a couple of schooners.”

“Schooners?” I asked.

“Australian glass of beer,” Darcy said. “They don’t call them pints.”

“Too right,” Jack said. “I needed to be somewhere normal, y’know. Nice little pub they’ve got down there. The barman asked me if I was the new hired hand at Drake’s farm. Funny, eh? I didn’t like to say I was a ruddy duke.”

“It’s not funny, Jack,” I said. “You would have been in big trouble if the inspector had discovered you’d gone. He’d think that was proving your guilt.”

Jack nodded. “Oh, struth. I suppose you’re right. Didn’t think about that. Just knew I had to get away or go ’round the bend. It’s all too much for me to handle.”

Darcy put a friendly hand on his shoulder. “Come on, my lad. Let’s get you inside before anyone notices. And don’t worry. This is England—finest police force in the world. It will soon be sorted out, I promise.”

As Jack went up the steps to the house ahead of us, Darcy looked at me and made a face. His expression said clearly “I wish I could believe that.”

We were about to go inside when I took Darcy’s hand. “Come on, this is a good time for me to show you the crime scene,” I said. “I don’t see any policemen around.”

“I don’t know what you expect to show me,” Darcy said, but he allowed himself to be towed along like a liner being pulled by a tugboat. “They will have taken the body away, and their boots will have messed up any evidence.”