‘No, not long at all. Ten minutes at the most, I’d say.’

‘And did you go there on your own?’

‘Yes. Other people had been coming and going, obviously, because there was a path trodden through the snow, but that’s not unusual. It’s a beautiful church and most of us use it, especially Miss St Aubyn. It was empty when I went in, though.’

‘But it’s possible that somebody could have been in the tower?’

She looked suddenly frightened. ‘I didn’t go to the tower. Why would I?’

‘No reason at all, and that wasn’t what I meant. I just wondered if you saw or heard anything out of the ordinary while you were in the church? Anything at all, even if it didn’t seem significant at the time.’

She considered the question, then answered it reluctantly. ‘I did hear someone in the tower last night.’

‘Go on,’ Penrose said, resisting the temptation to curse her for not saying so earlier.

She shrugged. ‘That’s it, really. I heard someone coming down the steps, so I hid in the hermit cell.’

‘Why, if you were doing nothing wrong?’

The ‘if’ obviously grated on her, but she didn’t argue. ‘It was late, and I didn’t want to see anyone, so I waited there until I heard the main door close. Then I left and went straight home.’

‘So you have no idea who it was?’

She shook her head. Penrose studied her face, noticing how tired she looked. He remembered what Josephine had 216said the night before about her being upset, and wished he had taken more notice. ‘How long have you worked here, Mrs Pendean?’ he asked.

She seemed more guarded as the questions took a personal turn, but answered them readily enough. ‘All my adult life,’ she said. ‘I grew up here, and my first job was as a stillroom maid. That was the best part of forty years ago now.’

‘And you’ve worshipped at the church all that time?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you’ll have known the Reverend Hartley before he moved to London.’

‘I knew of him, that’s all. You don’t know someone personally just because you’ve heard him preach or waited on his wife.’

‘Of course not, but I wondered if you could think of any reason at all why someone might want to do this to him?’

‘No, absolutely not. It’s a wicked thing to do.’

There was a knock at the door, and Tom Pendean put his head round. ‘Miss St Aubyn said you wanted me, sir?’ He looked with concern at his wife. ‘Everything all right, love?’

She stood up, obviously embarrassed by the term of endearment while she was at work, and Penrose thanked her for her help. ‘Mr Penrose was just asking about the Reverend Hartley,’ she explained. ‘He wondered if I could remember anything that might help, back from when the vicar used to be chaplain here.’

‘You should talk to Emily Soper, sir, if you want to know anything about the island.’