“He was doing a bit of rock-climbing on Sunday down at Ilam,” she explained. “That’s a limestone gorge about twenty miles from here. He said he’d come up early and take me out on Saturday afternoon. He often does that. I’m sure that’s half the reason he sent me to Derbyshire House. The school he chose for my brother is in Perthshire, so he can get up in the mountains when he goes to see him. I sometimes think he loves the mountains and rocks more than anything else. Mountains, music, his family, and his job. In that order, I suspect. But he gives so much to all of us, he’s never made me feel that a moment spent with me is a moment he’d rather spend doing something else. I’m very, very fond of my father,” she added unnecessarily.

“How long did you spend with him on Saturday?” asked Cordelia.

“He picked me up at half-past two and we went for a walk in Chee Dale and Wye Dale. Then we went to have tea and he dropped me back here about a quarter to six. I told him about the concert, but he wouldn’t come because she was here. I didn’t expect him to. He said he’d send a check for the fund. He went off back to his hotel then, I suppose. He usually does. He has dinner, then sits in his room doing paperwork and listening to his Walkman.”

“Do you know where he was staying?” Lindsay chimed in.

“I think he was at the Anglers’ Retreat, in Thorpe Dale. That’s where he usually stays. Anyway, I came back here, had dinner, and then it was time for the concert.”

“And you didn’t see him again on Saturday night?”

“No, how could I have?”

“Have you told the police any of this?” asked Cordelia cautiously.

“They didn’t ask about anything except the concert. I suppose I was a bit nervy about them thinking my father might perhaps have had something to do with it. They don’t know him like I do, after all. Should I have told them do you think? Could it help Miss Callaghan?”

“I doubt it would have meant anything to them, Caroline. Don’t worry on that account. Can you tell us what you remember about the rest of the evening?”