Miss Bellever shook her head.

‘Oh no, Mr Gulbrandsen had nothing whatever to do with the running of the College, or with administrative matters.’

‘What was the purpose of his visit?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘But he was annoyed to find Mr Serrocold absent, and immediately decided to wait until he returned?’

‘Yes.’

‘So his business here was definitely with Mr Serrocold?’

‘Yes. But it would be — because it would be almost certainly business to do with the Institute.’

‘Yes, presumably that is so. Did he have a conference with Mr Serrocold?’

‘No, there was no time. Mr Serrocold only arrived just before dinner this evening.’

‘But after dinner, Mr Gulbrandsen said he had important letters to write and went away to do so. He didn’t suggest a session with Mr Serrocold?’

Miss Bellever hesitated.

‘No. No, he didn’t.’

‘Surely that was rather odd — if he had waited on at inconvenience to himself to see Mr Serrocold?’

‘Yes, it was odd.’

The oddness of it seemed to strike Miss Bellever for the first time.

‘Mr Serrocold did not accompany him to his room?’

‘No. Mr Serrocold remained in the Hall.’

‘And you have no idea at what time Mr Gulbrandsen was killed?’

‘I think it is possible that we heard the shot. If so, it was at twenty-three minutes past nine.’

‘You heard a shot? And it did not alarm you?’

‘The circumstances were peculiar.’

She explained in rather more detail the scene between Lewis Serrocold and Edgar Lawson which had been in progress.

‘So it occurred to no one that the shot might actually have come from within the house?’

‘No. No, I certainly don’t think so. We were all so relieved, you know, that the shot didn’t come from in here.’

Miss Bellever added rather grimly:

‘You don’t expect murder and attempted murder in the same house on the same night.’

Inspector Curry acknowledged the truth of that.

‘All the same,’ said Miss Bellever, suddenly, ‘you know, I believe that’s what made me go along to Mr Gulbrandsen’s room later. I did mean to ask him if he would like anything, but it was a kind of excuse to reassure myself that everything was all right.’

Inspector Curry stared at her for a moment.

‘What made you think it mightn’t be all right?’

‘I don’t know. I think it was the shot outside. It hadn’t meant anything at the time. But afterwards it came back into my mind. I told myself that it was only a backfire from Mr Restarick’s car — ’

‘Mr Restarick’s car?’

‘Yes. Alex Restarick. He arrived by car this evening — he arrived just after all this happened.’

‘I see. When you discovered Mr Gulbrandsen’s body, did you touch anything in the room?’

‘Of course not.’ Miss Bellever sounded reproachful. ‘Naturally I knew that nothing must be touched or moved. Mr Gulbrandsen had been shot through the head but there was no firearm to be seen, so I knew it was murder.’