Because there was no guest list. Jasper is very welcoming. He invites friends and expects them to invite people he might find interesting. I can probably write down the names of people Im certain were here, but that will be a mere fraction of the total actual attendees. To be honest, I wish Jasper would be a little more formal when it comes to his gatherings. Its quite difficult to ensure we have enough food and beverages when, on any given night, we dont know whether to expect twenty visitors or two hundred. I can tell you that based on the caterers bill, I estimate there were between four hundred fifty and six hundred people here last night.

Jessie decided to pursue a different area of inquiry.

I noticed cameras all over the property. Has your security team handed that footage over to Detective Purcell yet?

Theyre collecting whats available as we speak, Salter assured her.

Great, Jessie said. Id like them to especially focus on the personal wing, from six p.m. until the first officers arrived on the scene.

Nancy Salter did actually laugh at that one.

Forgive my impertinence, she said quickly. Its just that the notion that Jasper would allow his private residence to be monitored is laughable.

But I saw cameras there as well, Jessie said, trying not to get annoyed by the womans attitude.

Yes, they were installed in plain view as a deterrent. But theyre inactive. In fact, the residential wing and the garden hedge maze we just left are the only areas on the entire estate where there is no monitoring allowed.

Why the hedge maze? Karen wondered.

Jasper enjoys spending time there. Its a place of solitude and mystery that relaxes him. And since he values his privacy, of course he wouldnt want cameras there any more than in his own bedroom.

Ms. Salter, Jessie said, I have to say, I find the assertion that, in the home of a public figure like Mr. Otis, in the middle of a massive party, with all the security on this property, there is no footage at all in the area where the crime took place…hard to buy.

Salter stared at her with what Jessie suspected was her most severe expression, the one she saved for employees whod failed her or her boss. Jessie stared back, undaunted, waiting for an answer.

Ms. Hunt, all I can tell you is our policy. Im sorry that it doesnt comport with your expectations, but theres nothing I can do about that. What I can do is leave you in Matildas care to conduct any guest interviews you choose to do while I reconfirm your meeting with Jasper and attend to other errands.

I assumed youd be staying with us, Karen said.