“Let’s hope it isn’t yours either,” I said. I went back to the Times crossword. “What’s a seven-letter word for obstinate?” I asked, looking up. But Belinda was no longer in the room.

“Belinda?” I called. I got up and went to the door. No sign of her. Of course, she could have paid a visit to the lavatory. I waited, but she didn’t return and I began to feel a little uneasy. The constable had now resumed his place at the bottom of the stairs. A chair had been provided for him, and he looked as if he had just woken up from a little snooze.

“Has the other young lady come up the stairs?” I asked him.

He was glancing around, looking a little guilty. “No, missy. No one’s come past this way.”

I turned back in the other direction. Down the dark hallway, through the long gallery and at last I found myself in the library. The curtains were drawn and the room lay in gloom but I could make out a figure that stood there. Belinda was standing on the other side of one of the glass-topped tables and in one hand she held an impressive dagger.

Chapter 20

OCTOBER 18

TREWOMA, CORNWALL

I can’t wait for this day to be over. I wonder if the inspector from Scotland Yard will get here by nightfall. Golly, I hope so. The waiting is nerve-racking. There is something about this house that is definitely unsettling. And now I’m having worrying thoughts about Belinda. . . .

“What on earth are you doing?” I demanded, my voice louder than I intended.

She looked up, startled, and dropped the dagger. It landed on the glass table with a clatter. “Georgie, I didn’t hear you coming in. You frightened me.”

“You frightened me too, standing there with that menacing object in your hand. What were you doing with it?”

“I just wanted to see how easy it would be to help oneself to one of the weapons without being seen. No problem, if you hadn’t followed me. And then I noticed that this dagger actually had precious stones down the side of the scabbard—is that what this is called?” She held it out to me. “So that made me start to wonder if the dagger that killed Tony came in a similar case, and if so, where is it.”

“Good point,” I said, “but you really are a chump, you know. You’ve now put your fingerprints all over a second weapon.”

“Oh gosh. So I have. That wasn’t very bright of me, was it?”

I handed her my handkerchief. “For heaven’s sake wipe it clean as quickly as possible, then put the darned thing back.”

Belinda did as I told her and together we placed it back on its hook on the wall.

“Now wipe the wall,” I said. “Your left hand touched it when you stretched up to hang the dagger.”