Lindsay leaned back in her seat, lit a cigarette, and continued her lecture. “I can’t say I feel so definite about the other two girls we’ve seen because I know even less about them than Caroline. But since you’ve told me not to be sentimental, let’s look at them. Of the two, I’d say that Jessica was less likely, but with Sarah only marginally more so. Jessica might have killed out of immediate anguish for her brother, but I don’t see her having the nerve for this crime. And I don’t believe she really had time to do it. Remember—she’d have had to get the spare key to Music 2 and return it to Margaret Macdonald’s room. The first part of the exercise wouldn’t necessarily have been awkward, because she probably would have been able to do it in the afternoon. But if Paddy was a few steps away from Margaret Macdonald’s room, where Jessica said she was when she found her—and it would have been too risky for Jessica to lie about that—then I don’t see how such an obtrusive girl, with that mane of red hair, could have got it back unnoticed.

“As far as Sarah is concerned, from what we’ve seen of her so far, I’d say she might—just might—be capable of this killing. But we’ve no evidence at all to link her with the crime. Really, the only reason why she should be a suspect—apart from my nasty mind—is that we believe she’s lied to the police in her statement about Paddy. But even that isn’t certain, since Paddy seems to be suffering from amnesia on the subject.”

“And what about the latest addition to the list?” Cordelia demanded.

“Anthony Barrington. Well, he’s in the locality. He comes fairly often, so he knows the layout of the school pretty well. Must do by now. He had a very large ax to grind with Lorna. He’s a man of action, too, not the sort who’d sit back calmly and shrug off being crossed. However, there’s the difficulty he’d have with the keys and remaining unseen. I suspect we’re going to have to engineer a talk with him. Which I don’t especially relish.”

Cordelia went through to the kitchen and made coffee. Lindsay followed her and said shamefacedly, “There’s one major problem. I’m committed to working next week in Glasgow. Wednesday to Friday. To be quite blunt, I can’t afford not to.”

“I’m sure we can work something out with Pamela Overton if you’re losing out by being here,” Cordelia said sympathetically.