‘But she knew Dolly only for a very short time.’

‘He might not know that. There was also that speculation in the newspapers that Lady Rose might be keeping quiet out of loyalty to her friend. How did he manage to escape from a hall full of people?’

‘He stood by the side door and fired and then escaped out into the night. Everyone was screaming and tumbling about, trying to escape. Lots of confusion. No one really saw him because they were all looking at Lady Rose and Miss Levine on the stage. Lady Rose can’t continue to stay here. What are we to do with her?’

‘Her parents are in Biarritz. You managed to keep this out of the newspapers?’

‘Yes, clamped down on the whole thing.’

‘I see no reason to tell them of this.’ Or poor Lady Rose really will be shipped out to India, he thought. ‘With any luck we will have solved the case by the time they return. I suggest Lady Rose should return to London. My Aunt Phyllis will act as chaperone and I myself will move into the earl’s town house.’

‘If you gentlemen would like to discuss this over dinner,’ said Bert. ‘My Sally’s just fed the children and they’ve gone back to school. Lady Rose will take dinner with you and you can tell her your plans.’

Harry was taken aback to find Rose standing over the cooking pots on the range, wrapped in a long white pinafore. Daisy was laying the table with the help of Sally.

Rose turned round as they entered. ‘Please sit down,’ she said. ‘I am about to serve.’

She lifted a leg of lamb out of one oven and then a tray of roasted potatoes and vegetables out of the other. She put the potatoes and vegetables in a casserole and placed it on the table and then put the leg of lamb on a large dish and put it in front of Harry. ‘Will you carve, please? I do not have the skill.’

I will never understand the upper classes, thought Kerridge. Here is the captain, her fiancé, and yet she goes on as if he’s a stranger.

When they were all seated over plates of lamb, Rose asked, ‘How are your investigations progressing?’

‘Not well at all,’ said Kerridge. ‘By Jove, this lamb’s delicious. You will make the captain a good wife. How are you coping with the shock, Lady Rose?’

‘I am managing,’ said Rose stiffly, remembering how, last night, she had clung on to Sally and wept.

‘We have decided that you should return to London,’ said Kerridge. ‘We saw no reason to alarm your parents with news of this. The captain’s Aunt Phyllis will chaperone you and the captain himself will move into the town house as well.’

Daisy brightened. Living with the captain meant living with Becket.

‘May Daisy and I not stay here?’ asked Rose. ‘He will surely not try to come here again and it is easier to watch out for strangers in a small village than it is in London.’