“Do you want me to stick on a false mustache, put on a porkpie hat and do my funny walk with a cane to prove it to you?” Charlie asked. He didn’t seem in the least put out, almost as if he was enjoying himself. “Or would you rather see my driver’s license?” He fumbled in his pocket, produced his wallet and handed it to the big man, who glanced at it, turned a little pale, then handed it back. “Sorry, Mr. Chaplin, sir. You can’t blame me for being too careful, can you? These movie types—they leave Hollywood for the weekend and think it’s amusing to play little jokes on the country bumpkins. And we’re stretched thin as it is, trying to cover a county of this size. We’ve already got a suspicious fire out of control in the hills above Simi so I’ve had to leave most of my men there. But I’ve got volunteer deputies on their way with the medical examiner.”

“Volunteer deputies?” Mrs. Goldman demanded. “Amateurs? What good can they do? This is a murder case, Sheriff. You need trained professionals. Shouldn’t you call Los Angeles and see if they’ve got some real detectives they can lend you? Or even Ventura?”

The sheriff drew himself up to all of his six feet in height. “Ma’am, we may be a rural force but we get just as good training as any city slicker. Now, if we can get down to business, one of you can take me to the body. The rest of you stay put until I tell you that you can move.”

“This way, sir,” Ronnie said.

“And are you a movie star too?” the sheriff asked. “Don’t recognize you.”

“No, I’m Mr. Goldman’s secretary,” Ronnie said. “Ronald Green.”

“And is everybody in the house together in that room? I want everyone in one place, where I can see them until my men have searched the house.”

“We assembled everyone for you, in anticipation of your arrival,” Ronnie said. “Apart from the servants.”

“How many of them?”

“There’s only Maria in the house. She cooks and cleans. Local women come in to help when we have a big party here. Her husband, Francisco, helps with the heavy work. We have four groundsmen but they are out driving around the fence to see where an intruder could have gotten in. They should be back soon. And there’s Jimmy on the gate. You met him.”

“Yeah. I met him all right. Nearly booked him for obstructing justice.” He scowled in the direction of the door as if he could see all the way down to the gate. “Wouldn’t let me in even when I showed him my badge. Well, as soon as those guys show up I want to talk to them. And the cook and her husband.” He turned away. “So which way to the body?”