The detective interviewing me said: ‘We understand you were born on Salay Hames. We thought if there was any difficulty with local patois . . .’

‘I don’t think it will be a problem,’ I said.

Because I was thrilled to be offered this solo job I wanted to maintain the belief that I was ideal for it. I therefore did not add that I had never spoken patois at any time, and that Salay was a modern, civilized island group with many trans-island connections. The speaking of patois was a thing of the past.

I departed the next morning. In those days, now long gone, there was a small, privately run airfield that linked Tristcontenta Hub with Dearth City, so the first part of the journey was a mere two hours in the air. I had a few hours to wait for the flight to Salay at Tristcontenta, but I had brought the file on the case. I found a quiet corner in one of the transit lounges.

I learned the details. A man named Waller Alman had been savagely murdered in his home. His full name was Lew Waller Alman, but he never used his first name. He was a Dearth citizen, vassal to a manorial landlord in the Dearth City, but he had been resident on Salay Hames since childhood. As an immigrant he had been removed from the vassalage and reduced to serf status while he remained on Salay. However, his birthplace and fief heritage made it mandatory that the investigation into his death was overseen by a member of our force.

Waller Alman’s body had lain unnoticed until a friend or acquaintance had called at the house and made the shocking discovery. Because Salay Hames is a warm island with a humid climate the body had started decomposing rapidly, and the forensic pathologist had used the method of blowfly hatching as a means of establishing a time and day of death. The Salay Hames police had immediately set up the SCI – Serious Crime Investigation – and as far as I could tell from the file they had done a good job.

The body was swiftly but provisionally identified as that of Waller Alman. He lived alone in a large house in a wealthy area of Hames. There were no signs of other occupants anywhere in the house. A driver’s licence found in a pocket of the dead man’s clothes confirmed the name and address. The victim was believed to have a brother, but he could not be traced anywhere in the Salay Group. Eventually a neighbour was able to identify the body.