This led me to wonder: had he actually been killed somewhere else and brought here, arranged on Belinda’s bed to incriminate her? What if he had been stabbed in the bathroom? In the actual bathtub? I crept out of the room, checking the surroundings before I went along the corridor in the direction of where I suspected Tony’s bathroom would be. As I went I examined the floor for any spots of blood. I found none. When I reached the end of the hall I opened doors and found to my annoyance that there was no other bathroom accessible from the corridor apart from the one that Belinda and I used. That must mean that Tony’s bathroom was entered from their bedroom at the far end of the hallway. And Rose was still in bed. How annoying. I tried to think of an excuse to go in—wanting to see how she was? But I realized she probably wouldn’t want to see me, given her outburst of accusation directed at Belinda the night before. I’d have to wait until she got up. And it was quite possible that the bathroom had already been cleaned.

I thought of that open window in Belinda’s bedroom. Uncle Francis was rather portly. Could he have climbed in or out? In the middle of a storm? It did stretch the imagination. The only person I could think of who had proven himself to be opportunistic was the enigmatic Jago. He had already entered someone’s home by way of a cave in the rocks. He was working for a man whose dealings were described as underhanded, and he and Tony had had some sort of run-in recently. Had Tony discovered that Jago was helping to smuggle something, maybe weapons, and Jago had to silence him? I could picture Jago stabbing someone, but why would he deliberately incriminate Belinda? He seemed rather attracted to her.

The other explanation that I didn’t want to delve into was that Tony was lying on Belinda’s bed, relaxed and waiting for her to get into bed beside him. And instead she picked up a dagger she had brought from downstairs and stabbed him. But why would she ever do that? Because he had deceived her and married Jonquil? Because she was now angry with all men and the way they treated her? Golly, I hoped that wasn’t true.

Chapter 21

OCTOBER 18

TREWOMA

This is the most puzzling murder I have ever seen. I’m praying the inspector from Scotland Yard finds the truth quickly and we can go home. And I’m really hoping that the truth does not involve Belinda!