‘Two matters are unusual. The first is that no body was discovered. The building was locked, the killer was inside, but there was no hint a murder had taken place. The people who were running the park ten years ago discovered the building had self-locked with someone trapped inside. As they were opening up the park the next morning they heard shouting and banging coming from in here. In those days there was no override on the door lock, so it had to be broken down with physical force. They found a man trapped inside. He was distraught. He claimed he was an ordinary visitor who had been accidentally locked inside. He said he had been trapped for several hours, and had gone all night without food or water. The park owners were obviously alarmed that they might be sued by this man, but his main concern appeared to be to leave at once.’

While Spoder was speaking he had to raise his voice. The screech of over-amplified pop music started up again, from close to the museum. There was also a grinding of machinery and metal wheels grating on metal runners. After a moment people started to shout and scream with excitement. I remembered that the Scrambler ride was positioned against the side of the museum.

Coming closer to me and raising his voice, Spoder went on: ‘At first no one realized a murder had taken place. The noise of these rides is deafening – even if you were close to this building it would be hard to notice the sound of a shot inside. The Sekonda police eventually realized that this unknown man must have shot Antterland, but they weren’t on the scene until a few hours later. Once the staff forced the main door, but long before the police were involved, the killer departed. No one realized what he had done. There is a receipt from a taxi company in the file – it looks as if the park owners were so eager to placate the man that they paid for him to take a cab back to town. Afterwards, people tried to describe him, but their memories were dominated by the fact that he looked wild, untidy and unshaven. When those were factored out he answered to a general description that would fit a hundred thousand other men.’

‘So when was Antterland’s body discovered?’ I asked.

‘The notes here say that it was later the same day. It took them all that time to realize that Antterland himself was missing.