You were probably jealous of Franks, she thought, because he was young and irresponsible. He knew how to enjoy himself. It was hard to imagine Gerald Matthews as ever having been young, and she had by now gained an impression of Greg as a man who, above all things, knew how to enjoy himself.

“Apart from the birds,” she said, “ was there any reason for the disapproval?”

“I’d heard rumours,” he said.

“About drugs?”

“Yes,” he said. “And about other things. Everyone knew he was mixed up in something shady. It was as if they thought he was clever. ‘Look at Greg Franks,’ they’d say. ‘ Just back from Thailand,’ or ‘Just bought a new ’scope,’ or ‘Driving a new car.’ ‘Bet he didn’t get that on the dole,’ they’d say. It made me sick. I didn’t think Rose should have him here. She agreed not to let him stay again, but here he was. She’s too kindhearted.”

“So you weren’t expecting him to be here this weekend?”

“No,” Gerald said sulkily. “It was a shock. I don’t know what made her change her mind.”

“Have you asked Miss Pengelly why she allowed him to come?” she asked. He muttered that it was none of his business, and she could do what she liked.

Molly Palmer-Jones spent all day listening. It was not exactly that she was eavesdropping. She was always in full view of the people who were talking. It was that they did not consider her worth bothering with. They thought she posed no threat. And the shock made them want to talk; they were glad to have someone sympathetic to share their worries with. When they came away from Molly, they felt better.

Even when she was in the shady dining room, she was listening—to the whispered conversation between the inspector and her sergeant that was taking place when she entered the room, and to the subtext beneath the questions, trying to follow the line of reasoning which prompted Claire Bingham to ask them. Molly was left with the disturbing impression that there was little logic, that the questions were a random, almost desperate attempt to find a previous relationship between Greg and the other passengers. It was clear already that there were no witnesses to the murder, or if anyone had seen anything suspicious, they were not admitting it.