Penrose watched them go, relieved at least that the suspect wasn’t putting up a fight. He fastened the suitcase to take with him, and ran into Hilaria in the corridor outside. ‘What on earth is going on?’ she asked. ‘I was just leaving Angela’s room when I saw Mr Lancaster being escorted downstairs. Did he kill Richard?’

Penrose brought her quickly up to date. ‘You’ll be glad to have this back. It was quite some stash that he was planning to get away with. Does the name Joan Pascoe mean anything to you?’

‘Vaguely. Why?’ Hilaria listened as he explained Lancaster’s connection to the Mount. ‘I still don’t see why that would give him cause to murder poor Richard.’ 208

‘No, neither do I, other than raising the possibility that they met before Richard moved to London. I suppose there’s a chance that Richard might have cottoned on to what Lancaster was doing.’

‘Even so, it seems a very extreme reaction. Better just to put the stuff back and deny all knowledge of it.’

Penrose agreed. ‘How is Mrs Hartley?’ he asked. ‘Josephine told me just now how distressed and confused she is, but I will need to speak to her.’

‘She’s staying in her room for the time being, and I’ve asked someone to sit with her. You’re welcome to go in now, but I doubt you’ll get anything coherent at the moment. She’s very anxious about Richard’s body and how long he’ll have to stay up there, and she doesn’t seem capable of focusing on anything else. I told her I’d ask if you intended to bring him down soon.’

It was the question that Penrose had been wrestling with, both morally and practically. He would dearly have loved a forensic opinion on the murdered man in situ, but that might not be possible for hours yet, and there was decency to consider, as well as the body’s vulnerability to birds and other predators. ‘I don’t suppose you have an undertaker on the island?’

‘No, I’m afraid not. We use Brooks, but his workshop is at the other end of the causeway. There are some good men in the village who would do it respectfully, though, and it seems right to let Richard rest in the church while he’s with us. I’m happy to oversee it now if I have your authority. To tell you the truth, I’d be pleased to have something useful to do.’

‘All right, thank you. I’d appreciate that, but please make 209sure that the church is locked at all times now. I’m sorry if that compromises its importance for you.’

‘I understand. These are hardly normal circumstances.’ Not for the first time, Penrose was grateful – in the absence of his professional colleagues – to have support from someone so calm and dependable in a crisis. ‘Why do you think he was killed up there?’ she asked tentatively, as if she were half afraid of the answer. ‘Was it just an obscene gesture, or is there a meaning in it that ties his death to the Mount?’