“I am, Inspector. I recently married the Honorable Darcy O’Mara, but I still retain my title as daughter of a duke.”

“I see.” This clearly had thrown him. He glared at me as if concealing this all-important fact was a criminal offense.

Then he sighed, turned back to face Belinda and said, “So you want me to believe that you go to stay with a man you haven’t seen since childhood, he shows no interest in you at all and yet he winds up naked on your bed with a large knife wound in his chest?”

Belinda eyed him coldly. “As strange as that sounds it’s the truth, Detective Inspector.”

He leaned toward her confidentially and lowered his voice. “You know you wouldn’t be the first young woman who has defended her honor. A man comes to your room, perhaps having drunk too much, late at night, you fight him off, grab the first weapon that comes to hand. . . .”

“How many men do you think walk the whole length of a hallway stark naked, Inspector?” Belinda demanded. “And where do you think I might have had a large dagger lying around handily?” Her face was now bright red. “And if he had come into my room in such circumstances I would have screamed for help, not stabbed him. And Lady Georgiana would have heard me and come to my aid.”

He swiveled back to face me. “So let me ask you, Lady Georgiana, now Mrs. O’Mara. Did this man maybe show any interest in you? I understand that wife swapping is an accepted sport in some circles.”

It was my turn to eye him coldly. “It might be among some of my class, but I assure you that I intend to stay absolutely faithful to my husband. Furthermore Tony Summers treated me only with the politeness that one gives to a guest. And he’d hardly have invited me into my friend’s room for a little hanky-panky while she was in the bath, would he?”

“I wouldn’t know. The ways of your class are quite unfathomable to me. And I would have expected you to close ranks,” he said with a sniff. “So let me ask you this: if neither of you killed him, then who did?”

“We have no idea, Detective Inspector,” Belinda said. “The only person I can think of who might have both motive and means would be my uncle, Sir Francis Knott. I did mention this fact to Inspector Purdy.”

“Ah yes, the wicked uncle.” Inspector Watt managed a smile. “And your reason for this was?”