“Because nobody admits to seeing her, speaking to her, or even hearing her warm up on her cello after I took her up there. I showed her up to the room and went in with her to make sure she had everything she needed. I took the opportunity to thank her for keeping her mouth shut about the circumstances of our previous acquaintance. She smiled like a fox and said she saw no reason so far to break her silence, but she’d have to consider the good of the school.”

Paddy sighed deeply and went on. “I left it at that and took off. I was around the backstage area till right before the concert when Jessica Bennett came to fetch me because one of the fifth form in Longnor was sick and Jess didn’t want the responsibility of dealing with it. By the time I got back, the first half was in full swing, so I went straight backstage again via the back stairs to avoid disturbing the audience.

“So I’m there. For all they know, I might have had a reason for murdering her, and I had a better chance than anyone else of getting to her. Because, you see, she locked the door behind me as I left. She said she wanted to be sure of getting some peace.”

“But if you’re supposed to have done it, how do they think you got the key on the table through a locked door?”

“There’s a spare key in Margaret Macdonald’s room, which was unlocked all evening. The key for Music 2 wasn’t where it should have been, either. Whoever put it back last put it on the wrong hook. But it could have been like that for weeks because those keys were hardly ever used. On the other hand, I or almost anyone else could have done it tonight. Everyone was milling around backstage. I doubt if anyone could positively say I didn’t slip into Margaret’s room.”

There was a moment’s chill silence. Then Lindsay spoke with quiet excitement. “But there would be no point in you killing Lorna while she was at the school. Not just to silence her. Her murder will surely mean the end of the school’s chances of raising the money for the playing fields. It’s bound to mean hard times or even closure for the school itself, so you won’t have a job in any event.”

“Agreed. But the police wouldn’t necessarily see it like that,” Paddy argued. “After all, if I felt sufficiently threatened, I wouldn’t necessarily think things through to their logical conclusion.”

That set the three of them off in a discussion about motive. Lindsay put forward her line of argument, but Cordelia countered that, in the heat of the moment, the murderer could well have panicked and seen no further than the immediate, short-term benefit.