‘Cardilini?’

‘Yes. Robson?’

‘Yes. I’m to show you Captain Edmund’s room.’

‘Show away,’ Cardilini gestured. Robson stood for a moment darting his eyes between Cardilini and Salt, then turned resignedly and shambled back the way he had come. Cardilini and Salt followed.

‘Why did you call him captain?’ Cardilini asked.

‘He was captain of the cadet corps.’

‘You have a cadet corps?’ Cardilini asked with a disdainful grimace to Salt.

‘Of course.’

‘Of course,’ Cardilini mouthed to Salt.

Looking from the doorway, the Captain’s second-level room was furnished with a single bed against the wall on the left, and on the right a roll-top desk and chair, two timber filing cabinets and a wardrobe. Cardilini tried the desk drawers, they held fast.

‘Where are the keys for this?’ He asked Robson. Robson pointed to a filing cabinet drawer.

Cardilini opened the top drawer and pulled out a bunch of keys, he tried several before one opened the roll-top. Cardilini examined the desk and drawers.

‘A tidy gentleman.’

‘He was,’ Robson affirmed.

Cardilini turned to the filing cabinets and went through each one carefully before ordering Salt to take notes of the contents. ‘Did you see the body?’ he asked Robson.

‘Yes.’

‘Show me where it was.’

Robson hesitated before pointing to the floor.

‘You lie down exactly where you saw Edmund lying,’ Cardilini ordered.

Robson reluctantly sat on the floor. He shuffled for a moment and lay back with his arms and legs akimbo.

‘Draw a picture, Salt,’ Cardilini directed, as he walked to the sash window directly in front of where Robson lay. He pushed the window up and looked down into the quadrangle for some time.

‘Finished, Salt?’ Cardilini asked.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Good. Go back to your notes on the filing cabinets. Please stand, Dr Robson.’

Robson stood. He made no attempt to dust his suit. Instead, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small tin, from which he selected a partially smoked cigarette. Cardilini watched this and offered Robson a light before lighting a cigarette himself. He went back to the window and then turned to face the room. He looked towards the ceiling above the rear wall then shifted his gaze to above the doorframe.

Cardilini strolled forward and said over his shoulder. ‘There would have been a lot of blood.’

‘There was,’ Robson said with a quick glance to Salt.

‘You saw?’

‘Yes.’

‘Not a pretty sight,’ Cardilini said unconcerned as he examined the floorboards. He then ran the point of a pencil along the gaps between the boards.

‘You could say that,’ Robson replied heatedly.

‘When was the place cleaned?’ Cardilini asked, examining his pencil.

‘Once the body was removed, I understand.’

‘Who did the cleaning?’

‘Our cleaning staff. They have been given the rest of the day off. They found it quite traumatic.’

‘Yep. There are specialist companies that do that sort of thing.’

‘The staff felt they could be more respectful of Captain Edmund’s passing.’

‘Very loyal of them,’ Cardilini conceded.