Her voice had faltered. Kimberley, like Mrs. Skeffington, if called for the prosecution, would be a gift for the defence. Asked what had happened next, Kimberley said that she had returned to where Dean was waiting outside Mrs. Skeffington’s sitting room and had told him.

“Had told him what?”

“That I thought I heard Sister arguing with Mr. Chandler-Powell.”

“And that’s why you didn’t call out to them and tell Sister that you had taken tea to Mrs. Skeffington?”

“It’s like I said in the library, sir. We both thought Sister wouldn’t like to be disturbed and that it wouldn’t really matter because Mrs. Skeffington hadn’t had her operation. Anyway, Mrs. Skeffington was all right. She hadn’t asked for Sister, and if she’d wanted her, she could have rung her bell.”

Kimberley’s evidence had been later corroborated by Dean. He looked if anything more distressed than Kimberley. He hadn’t noticed whether the door to the lime avenue was unbolted when he and Kimberley took up the tea tray, but was adamant that it was unbolted when they returned. He had noticed it when passing the door. He repeated that he hadn’t bolted it because it was possible that someone was taking a particularly late walk and in any case it wasn’t his job. He and Kimberley were the first to rise, and had early-morning tea together in the kitchen at six o’clock. He then went to look at the door and saw that it was bolted. He had not thought that surprising: Mr. Chandler-Powell seldom unbolted it before nine o’clock in the winter months. He hadn’t told Kimberley about the door being unbolted at the time, in case she became nervous. He wasn’t himself worried, because there were the two security locks. He couldn’t explain why he hadn’t returned later to check both the locks and the bolt except to say that security wasn’t his responsibility.

Chandler-Powell had remained as calm as he had been when the team first arrived. Dalgliesh admired the stoicism with which he must be contemplating the destruction of his clinic, possibly of the greater part of his private practice. At the end of the interview in his study, which produced nothing new, Kate said, “No one here, with the exception of Mr. Boyton, says that they knew Miss Gradwyn before she came to the Manor. But in a sense she isn’t the only victim. Her death must inevitably affect the success of your work here. Is there anyone who might have an interest in harming you?”

Chandler-Powell had said, “All I can say is that I have every confidence in everyone who works here. And it seems to me extremely far-fetched to suggest that Rhoda Gradwyn was murdered to inconvenience me. The idea is bizarre.”