‘What exactly do you think she can tell him?’

‘I think she knows – or at least suspects – who her husband was going to talk to.’

‘But why would she hold something back that might help catch his killer?’

Josephine shrugged. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps I’m wrong, and she really can’t remember. Or perhaps she’s frightened of being targeted herself.’ She stopped before they reached Chevy Chase and took Marta’s hand. ‘It hadn’t even occurred to me until now, but what if this isn’t the end of it? What if someone else is in danger?’

‘I’m sure it’s occurred to Archie,’ Marta said. ‘Why else would he want us all gathered together in one place?’

It had obviously occurred to their fellow guests, too, because every member of the group seated in the dining room seemed on edge as Josephine and Marta walked in. The atmosphere was oppressive, like the heavy silence that invariably follows a row, and when Rachel Lancaster looked up nervously to see who the newcomers were, Josephine was shocked by the livid purple marks on her temple and cheekbone. Breakfast had been laid out along one side of 188the room, but no one had touched it, and the long refectory table now seemed absurdly large for the dwindling number of guests. The Lancasters, Marlene and Barbara Penhaligon were clustered together at one end, an improbable attempt at solidarity that only served to emphasise the desperate situation in which they found themselves. Each place setting was finished off with a small Christmas stocking, personalised to a particular guest, and Josephine counted it a blessing that Fielding and his camera were absent from the room: it would have been hard to imagine a picture which contrasted more sharply with Hilaria’s hopes for the weekend than the scene in front of her, and she wondered where the photographer had got to.

Marlene followed her gaze to the stockings and picked up the one in front of her. ‘It was kind, wasn’t it? Miss St Aubyn doesn’t deserve to have such sadness brought into her home. It will never be the same again for her.’ She got up and walked purposefully across to the bank of silver dishes, as if doing something practical could somehow salvage Hilaria’s good intentions. ‘We should have coffee and something to eat. It will help us to think more clearly.’ She began to put eggs, bacon and toast onto six plates, and Josephine remembered what Archie had said about her kindness on the journey down; a motherly instinct was not something she would have associated with the film star, but she liked her all the more for it. No one argued as she passed the food round, but there was very little appetite amongst the group, and Marlene herself ate less than anyone.

‘How is Mrs Hartley?’ Rachel asked, pushing her plate away and looking directly at Josephine and Marta, as if daring them to mention the bruises that hovered unacknowledged 189on the edges of the conversation. ‘I can’t imagine how she’ll cope. They were so happy together.’