Queenie gave me a pleased grin. He was rather good-looking in a Latin way. I watched her go then saw my mother and Belinda watching me.

“You really are too soft,” Mummy said. “You should have refused to take her back.”

“Mummy, I could hardly leave her to fend for herself in California, could I? I brought her out here, and hopefully she’s learned her lesson.”

Mummy sighed and got up. “I think I need another drink, Charlie darling.”

“Of course you do. We all need a little something right now to cheer us up, don’t we?”

“I know what might cheer me up.” She walked slowly over to him and I watched him watching her. I had a feeling that she wouldn’t be spending the rest of the night in our bungalow, if we were ever released to go to bed. And again I marveled that I could be her daughter. Perhaps I had been switched at birth with Belinda.

I realized that I could do with a drink too, but Mummy and Charlie were now being horribly chummy at the drinks table and I dared not interrupt. So I was glad when we heard the sound of heavy footsteps outside and then rapping on the front door.

Ronnie went to answer it and several men entered the hallway. They looked to me like a gang of desperadoes who might have come to raid the bank in any Wild Western film. “Where’s the sheriff?” one of them asked. “We got word of a body being found here?” He was unshaven, wearing a sweaty shirt and a cowboy hat he hadn’t bothered to remove.

“The sheriff is in the library where the body is also located,” Ronnie said. “Are you one of the deputies?”

“No, I’m the doctor,” the scruffy individual said. “The deputies came to get me when I’d just returned from a horseback ride. So take me to him. I’m dog tired and want to get home.”

After prim and fastidious English doctors, I didn’t put much faith in this one. It was interesting to observe that under the thin veneer of glamour in Beverly Hills this was still the untamed West. The deputies moved into the front hall, looking around with awe as if they’d suddenly found themselves on a strange planet. We turned at the sound of tapping feet and Stella came across the hall, followed by the sheriff. She made a beeline for the cocktails.

“Odious man,” she muttered. “One minute he’s asking me personal questions about my relationship with Cy and the next he’s asking for my autograph for his wife.”

“So you finally got here,” the sheriff said as he joined his men. “What news on the fire?”