“You’ve omitted several salient facts in recent months,” Bill said pointedly. “However. This is a bit odd, you know. Given the Earl was already paying through the nose, a male blackmail victim surely has to be Preston or Jack, each of whom has a lady swearing to his whereabouts. Unless it was one of the servants.”

“Fen’s maid thinks all their movements are accounted for,” Pat said.

“But everyone’s moves are accounted for.”

“Not the Earl and Countess yet. Sorry, Jimmy.”

Bill frowned. “The Earl and Countess, or at least one couple is lying. This really is what the police are for, you know, to pin down the fine detail and find the inconsistencies.”

“Yes, but what if they can’t?” Pat said. “We were all squirrelled away in pairs, actively avoiding one another, and the staff were busy. If nobody saw the murderer moving around, it will remain a case of ‘our word against yours’. In which case they’ll start looking at motives.”

“Which is to say, at me or Anna,” Jimmy said.

“Or Bill, because Jack is unlikely to keep quiet about that blunder of yours,” Pat said.

“I’m sure we can rely on him to mention it,” Jimmy snapped. “He was very ready to sacrifice my sister’s reputation to remove himself from suspicion.”

“It would be a bit late for him to start pretending their relationship was innocent,” Bill said. “And he’s absolutely right that she would be suspected, so there’s no point getting on your high horse over it.”

“Nevertheless,” Pat said, before this could develop into an argument. “We need to work this out for ourselves before it gets down to motives, and interrogations about exactly how people passed the time. The blackmail candidates are Preston and Jack. I asked Preston if he was being blackmailed—”

“You what?”

“—and he said no. I believe him.”

“You really cannot go around asking people if they’re being blackmailed,” Bill said. “For goodness’ sake, Pat. And I doubt you can believe them when they say no. But assuming that’s the case, it leaves Jack, and I really don’t see how Haworth could blackmail him over an affair with his own wife.”

“Well, no. It’s hardly a secret,” Fen said.

“That, and Jack wouldn’t suffer any significant consequences from it becoming public knowledge. A blackmailer needs to hold consequences, immediate unavoidable ones, over his victim’s head. The game only works if he has a trump card.”

“Lady Anna would have suffered. Might Jack be keen to protect her name rather than his?” Pat offered.

Jimmy snorted. “Then he should have behaved differently for some time. But one couldn’t blackmail Jack anyway, because he hasn’t got anything. Fellow lives off the card table.”

Bill frowned. “Whereas Preston is well off, and he went for Haworth’s throat as if he loathed him.”

Pat rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Bill. He and Victoria are engaged.”