“No.” Her hands were shaking and she lit a cigarette. “ I told you at the time. I was on my own.”

“You should tell me. It may have no relevance.”

“No.”

As she sat and smoked she seemed to recover her poise. Despite her refusal to answer his questions George knew that he wanted to prolong the encounter. It was as if she had enchanted him, and he were unable to let her go.

“I have a message for you,” he said, “from Jonathan.”

She waited with polite but wary interest. She was turning the wedding ring round and round on her finger, but gave no other sign of concern.

“He says that he will leave the island as soon as he can get another job. Before that if it makes you happy.”

There was no reaction.

“Does he?” she said. “ I think, you know, that it’s a little late for that.”

She was staying at the hotel and excused herself to go upstairs to prepare to go out. She had arranged to meet a friend, a woman she stressed, who taught music at the high school. There was an exhibition of local art in the museum and they were going together. He watched her walk across the lounge, then poured himself another cup of tea from the ample pot. He seemed unable to leave. He was tied to her.

She was away for longer than he had expected, and he felt foolish, sitting by the dirty plates in the empty room. When she came down the stairs at last, she was dressed in a warm jacket and leather boots. She saw him through the open door of the lounge, but she did not approach him again. She waved and went out. He had the impression that she was running away from him.

He waited until she left the building, then walked to the reception desk. The receptionist was a local girl, buxom and saucy, with a round red face. She grinned at him.

“It’s very quiet here today,” he said.

“You’re telling me. I’ve not spoken to a soul since lunchtime.”

It was a great hardship to her, this solitude.

“As it’s so quiet, I suppose you’d remember all the incoming telephone calls received by your guests.”

“I might.” She was curious but suspicious.

“I’m a private detective,” he said confidentially. “It’s a divorce matter.”

She was enthralled. “ You want to know about the lady you were taking tea with?” She had no hesitation now in talking to him.

“Yes. Has she had any telephone calls since she’s been staying here?”

“I’m not here all the time, of course.” She spoke in a stage whisper, although there was no one to hear. “ I was working last night and there were two calls for her then.”

“Did you take the calls yourself?”

“Yes I did.”

“Do you remember anything about them? Were the callers men or women?”