Lindsay replied quickly, trying to convince herself as much as Cordelia. “Don’t be silly. How on earth could you have got into the room, killed Lorna, and got back to your seat, having locked the door behind you, replaced the key, and not shown the slightest sign of upheaval? At the very least you’d have been out of breath and I’d have noticed that. Besides, whoever killed her must have had the weapon ready, and you couldn’t hide anything in that dress,” she ended, realizing even as she spoke that the garrote could easily have been hidden in the music room in advance. But she desperately didn’t want to consider seriously the proposition that a woman she’d fallen for could have murdered someone. So she wanted to offer what reassurance she could. When the police made any move toward Cordelia, that was the time to worry. Not before.

“Look, it’s okay. Don’t worry. Nobody could think for a moment that it was you. You’ve hardly got a motive, after all. Oh, I know dead women don’t sue. But the case was by no means a foregone conclusion, and surely she would have come out of it at least as badly as you. At worst, it would have given the book a lot of publicity.” Lindsay squeezed down on the seat beside Cordelia, who rested her head on Lindsay’s shoulder.

She sighed and said, “You’re right. I suppose I’ll have to face them. Sorry, I’m not normally such a wimp. Oh God, I really don’t want to go through with this. I wish I could just climb into bed and pull the covers over my head. Just sleep long enough for it all to go away.”

“That’s not really on, though, is it?”

“No. Instead, I’ve got to go and tell all to some tedious plod who will doubtless trip me up and proceed to arrest me for murder on the spot. Will you come with me?”

Lindsay nodded. “Of course. They’ll not let me stick around while they take your statement, though, particularly with me being the resident hack.”

Cordelia chuckled softly. “Oh no, they wouldn’t want witnesses when they start pulling out my fingernails to get a confession.” They both laughed, and the tension evaporated. Lindsay felt slightly hysterical with a mixture of jubilation that her doubts about Cordelia had vanished, and shock reaction to the events of the past few hours. She got to her feet and Cordelia followed her out of the room.

On the way upstairs, Lindsay asked Cordelia, “Do you know if there’s a darkroom in the school?”

“Yes. Some of the seniors do photography as a hobby. There’s a little darkroom in the science block, over at the back of the tennis courts. Why?”