“Are you chatting about our snakebite victim?” Liam asked, having arrived back with a tray of hot drinks and a pint of Coke. “Tony says he’s rapidly running out of milk, by the way. We’ll all be on the espressos tomorrow.”

“Actually,” I said, “Molloy said it was a harmless grass snake, so it looks as if it wasn’t the snakebite that killed him. Unless there’s another one lurking around somewhere.”

Phyllis grabbed her hot chocolate. “Or he was allergic, or something.”

“I saw him leave,” Liam said, sinking into a low armchair. “He left the same time as I did.”

“Was the wife with him?” Phyllis asked.

Liam bowed his head in acknowledgement. “She was, and the brother.”

“Twin,” I added.

Phyllis turned to me. “Oh, are they twins? Mary never mentioned that. They don’t look very alike.”

Liam gave her a quizzical look. “Mary?”

“Mary and Bob Jameson were old sweethearts,” Phyllis said, taking a sip of her chocolate. “About six million years ago.”

Liam raised his eyebrows over his Coke. I assumed he too found it hard to imagine Mary as part of a couple. “But they were still in touch?” he asked.

Phyllis nodded. She avoided Liam’s eye, some attempt to be discreet for Mary’s sake, I assumed.

But Liam wasn’t letting go. “Hang on a second,” he said, placing his glass back on the table. “Were they still …?”

“Possibly,” I said. “They certainly kept their relationship a secret. Anyway,” I said, to change the subject, “it was Derek himself told me they were twins, but I agree, they didn’t look alike. I think they had very different lifestyles.”

“But this was his first visit to Inishowen?” Liam asked.

“First and last,” Phyllis said ominously.

“What did you see when you saw them leave?” I asked Liam.

He shrugged. “Ach, not very much. All three of them got into a taxi, to go back up to Mary’s, I presume. They could have walked but of course it was lashing.”

“How did they seem?” Phyllis asked intently. I wondered if she was getting her teeth into this for Mary’s benefit or out of simple curiosity.

“What do you mean?” Liam asked.

“Bob and the wife,” she said irritably. “And the brother, I suppose. Were they getting on or arguing? Having a laugh or what?”

Liam spread his hands. “I don’t know, do I? They seemed all right. Too busy trying not to get drenched, I’d guess. I was having the same problem myself – trying to put up my umbrella and getting whacked in the face with it.”

“So, they got back to the B & B anyway,” Phyllis said thoughtfully, taking another sip of her drink. “I presume Molloy or McFadden will have spoken to the taxi driver to confirm that.”