‘If we tell them that you fought – and lost – against a man who was later murdered, they’d be bound to take a keen interest.’

Denley shut the door. ‘Come into my study,’ he growled.

Peter followed him down a corridor and into a large room with a desk under one window. Ledgers were stacked on top of each other. Paul had told his brother that Denley was a successful wine merchant and that he owned a warehouse on the Thames that stocked the wine imported from abroad. Since the end of the war, the vineyards of France had resumed their supplies.

Denley was brusque. ‘What do you wish to know?’

‘Tell me about your relationship with Sir Roger Mellanby.’

‘Your brother asked me that.’

‘Yes, but he’s not here, unfortunately. So I’d be grateful if you could humour me. Where and when did you first meet him, for example? And why did you suspect him of taking liberties with your wife?’

Denley grimaced.

Paul was given a much more cordial welcome when he called on Kitty Denley. Now that the initial shock of her lover’s murder had worn off, she was able to take a measured view of her position. Being the mistress of a Member of Parliament had brought some excitement into her life for the first time.

‘The last time I was here,’ said Paul as they settled down in the drawing room, ‘you weren’t ready to talk freely. Is there anything else that you wish to tell me now?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘What is it?’

Kitty wet her lips before speaking. ‘My husband has a thriving business but I wasn’t allowed to know anything about it. “Women don’t understand such things,” he used to say. So it remained a closed book to me.’

‘Didn’t you meet any of his suppliers or clients?’

‘No, I never did.’

‘You must have felt left out.’

‘It was a cross I learnt to bear, Mr Skillen, and in some ways I was grateful. The wine trade would have bored me. Hugh loves that world. The happiest time of all for him is when his latest imports are unloaded at the docks. He stands on the wharf and checks them carefully.’

‘Does his work mean that he has a large social circle?’

‘Yes – but I was kept on the fringe of that as well. For most of my marriage, I was a wife in name only. That’s why my … attention waned. I can see what you’re thinking. Why did I marry him in the first place? The answer is simple. Hugh was kind and attentive to me in those days. He offered me stability and companionship.’

‘Yet you had no children.’

‘That was the thing that disappointed me most. With a family to bring up, I’d have been happy and fulfilled. As it was, my life was empty.’

‘You said that you had something to tell me.’