Caroline grinned enormously, and suddenly Lindsay was struck by her resemblance to her father. It was her attitude—a sense of joy in risk-taking, a devil-may-care attitude—and at that moment, Lindsay saw that Caroline might indeed have killed Lorna and have managed to keep her mouth firmly shut. What better disguise for discretion than a reputation for logorrhea?

“Okay, so if you know I didn’t do it, what do you want me to tell you? Shall I start with what I told the police?” asked Caroline eagerly. It was hard not to see her as some enormously good-natured but clumsy young bear-cub.

“Tell us first of anything that struck you as at all unusual at any time all day Saturday,” said Cordelia. Both women were conscious of the need not to waste the opportunity of a witness who seemed both talkative and observant.

“Well, the whole day was a bit funny, really. Miss Callaghan seemed a bit edgy, but I put that down to the general upheaval, plus she was responsible for both of you. Having a journalist on the loose about the place must have been a bit unnerving for everybody on the official side. I mean, only you know what you were going to say about us. You see, places like this are terribly insular, and being under constant attack from the forces of reason and equality make them even more on the defensive, you know? And then there was the business of Sarah Cartwright throwing a wobbler, which upset more or less everybody—it threw Jacko into a perfect tail-spin and didn’t exactly fill Miss Callaghan with good cheer.

“You were around, so I suppose you saw that carry-on. It was rather grisly, really. Sarah’s a bit of a loner; I always get the feeling that she hasn’t actually got much more to her life than this place, her father being so busy. I mean, my father is always up to his eyes in work, or climbing expeditions or whatever, but he always makes time to be with his children. It seems to me that Sarah’s father puts work first—you know, if he’s planned to take her off somewhere and work interferes, it’s, ‘Tough luck, old girl, we’ll make it another time.’ So although she doesn’t really have close friends here, I suppose this place is more or less home to her. At least people are pretty impressed by her sporting ability.

“So of course, when those half-wits started to have a go at her it must have been pretty hellish. And, since Miss Callaghan is always frighteningly perceptive about what goes on inside our tiny heads, it’s my guess that she must have been a bit upset on Sarah’s account. All that would make her a bit iffy, wouldn’t it?”

“Possibly,” Cordelia replied. “Was she okay by the afternoon?”