She snatched the glasses back and looked again, and saw instantly that the flag which marked the highest point of the island was flying at half-mast. ‘But Johnny, that doesn’t mean …’

‘Come on!’ he said. ‘We need to get packed up and downstairs. Perhaps someone here knows what’s going on.’

In a panic, he started piling wet clothes into his suitcase, and she went over and took his hands, forcing him to stop and look at her. ‘Calm down, love, and let’s think this through. I’m not being funny, but why would they lower the flag for your mum? She’s not one of the toffs, is she? That doesn’t make sense.’

‘No, I suppose it doesn’t.’ Johnny smiled at her, as the logic of what she said sank in. ‘That’s probably why she wasn’t at home last night. If there’s been a death at the castle, it’ll be all hands to the pump, especially if it’s the old man. They all love him over there.’ He held her tight, and she could feel the relief pass through his whole body. ‘I wouldn’t wish ill on anyone, Vi, but thank God it’s not Mum.’

206

5

The clutch of stolen items was in Lancaster’s suitcase, just as his wife had described. It was mostly silverware – a sugar vase and an Elizabethan chalice, several elaborately decorated ladles, all easily pocketed – but Penrose also recognised a circular snuff box that had been on the side table in the smoking room, and several miniatures, including one of Charles I which he knew to be valuable. Lancaster seemed visibly to shrink under the disapproving stare of the other three men in the room. ‘I can only begin to imagine how ashamed your grandparents would be if they could see you now, Mr Lancaster,’ Penrose said. ‘What was their name?’

‘Pascoe. Frederick and Joan Pascoe.’

‘And is Gerald Lancaster your real name?’

‘Of course it is.’

‘And what do you do for a living?’

‘I’m a railway porter.’

‘For which company?’

‘London, Midland and Scottish.’ Penrose made a note of the details, and the simple act of committing evidence to paper seemed to focus Lancaster’s fear. ‘I didn’t kill him,’ he said repeatedly. ‘You’ve got to believe me. I didn’t know the man. Why on earth would I want to kill him?’

‘I don’t know, but I can’t imagine why you would force your wife to climb onto St Michael’s Chair either, so forgive 207me if I don’t automatically take your word for it. But you stand by your statement? You left the church with your wife and were in your room with her all night?’

‘Yes, absolutely.’

He seemed sincere, and Penrose couldn’t rule out the possibility that Rachel Lancaster had seen a solution to her unhappiness in refusing to give her husband an alibi, salvaging her freedom from his guilt; he wouldn’t have blamed her for it, but he couldn’t make assumptions either way. ‘Mr Lancaster, when we get back to the mainland, you will be taken to a police station for further questioning about Richard Hartley’s death, and charged with theft and fraud. I will also be asking your wife if she would like to press charges for assault. In the meantime, you’ll be kept under supervision at all times, and you’re not at liberty to move about the castle or speak to your wife or any of the other guests. Is that clear?’ Lancaster nodded. ‘Good. Please go with Mr Lee.’