Trannack shrugged. ‘Obviously not. Looks worried, doesn’t he?’

Penrose shook off the ropes and headed up the shingle, rehearsing news that he had not anticipated having to deliver. The boy’s unexpected arrival left him with a dilemma; he didn’t want to make the reality of Mrs Soper’s death public yet, but neither did it seem right to lie to her son. He was still deciding what to do when the young man took the initiative. ‘Is it Lord St Levan?’

‘Lord St Levan?’

‘Yes. We noticed the flag was at half-mast this morning, then we saw you coming over and knew it must be serious, so we thought …’

‘No, it’s not Lord St Levan. He isn’t even at home for Christmas. We lowered the flag for one of the guests.’

‘Oh, thank God!’ Soper looked mortified. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that disrespectfully, but my mum …’

‘Emily Soper?’ Penrose clarified, too bothered by the 237unfounded relief on the young man’s face to let him go any further.

‘How did you know that?’

He looked frightened again, and Penrose could hardly bear to confirm his worst fears. ‘I’m Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose, Mr Soper. I’m so very sorry to tell you that there have been two recent deaths on the Mount. Your mother’s body was found earlier this morning, although I believe that she died some time yesterday.’

‘No!’ Soper bellowed the word, a raw, despairing act of denial, and he looked so angry that Penrose thought for a moment that he was going to lash out.

A young woman hurried over to join them and took Soper’s hand. ‘Johnny, what is it? What on earth’s wrong?’

He shook her off, but still she took the brunt of his grief. ‘I knew something was wrong. I should never have listened to you. We might have been able to save her if I’d gone over last night like I wanted to.’

‘But you couldn’t get across.’

‘How do you know? You’re not from round here. We could have tried harder.’

‘The young lady’s right, Mr Soper,’ Penrose added gently. ‘You arrived late last night?’ He nodded. ‘Then there was nothing you could have done. We’ve had to wait until now to come across and get some help.’

‘We were going to surprise her, weren’t we, Vi?’ He took her hand, all hostility now forgotten. ‘She wasn’t expecting us, but we wanted her to be the first to know.’

‘We’ve just got engaged, you see,’ Violet explained. ‘Johnny wanted to tell his mum.’

‘I wish I’d written now,’ Jonathan said. ‘At least then she’d 238have known we were on our way. She could have looked forward to it. It was her first Christmas on her own. She probably thought we didn’t care.’

‘Don’t be daft, Johnny. Of course she knew you cared about her. Why else would you have half drowned yourself last night?’

‘What do you mean?’ Penrose asked.

‘Johnny couldn’t sleep last night, so he went out to try and find a way across. I’ve spent most of today drying his clothes.’ She squeezed his hand lovingly. ‘So don’t beat yourself up about not trying hard enough, love. Your mum couldn’t have had a better son – she always said so herself.’