“I don’t know much about what went on then, because I was out with my father. I suppose you know all about him and that bloody woman by now?”

Cordelia said quickly. “We know a bit. Suppose you tell us what really happened.”

“It’s been the main event in our family over the last couple of years,” said Caroline, her normal machine-gun delivery slowing down. “I’m not entirely clear how they met, but once my father got to know Lorna, he fell for her like the proverbial ton. He didn’t say anything, but I think Mummy knew something was happening. Anyway, he decided that he didn’t just want an affair, so he told Mummy he wanted a divorce. It was all extremely messy—and very painful for everyone because deep down, he loved us all really.

“When the whole sordid business of the divorce was over, he went to Lorna and asked her to marry him. He hadn’t seen her for about a month because she’d been off touring in the Far East. She laughed in his face and told him not to be a fool, that she had no intention of marrying him. She didn’t have the sense to see she was turning down the best man she’d ever meet. And he was devastated. Who wouldn’t have been? I mean, he’d thrown his marriage away, torn up his own life and our lives too, and all for nothing.” She paused.

“I can forgive him,” she went on, “because everyone has the right to make at least one almighty blunder in their lives, and after all, he’s still a part of my world. But I could never forgive her because, if she hadn’t fooled him into thinking she wanted him, he’d have just let it be a stupid affair and that would have been the end of it. But no. She had to destroy his life. So I’m not sorry that someone killed her. Not a bit sorry.” Lindsay detected a trembling in Caroline’s voice as she finished her story.

“Was there any special reason why he came to see you on Saturday?” she asked, trying hard to avoid sounding eager.