‘To sum up,’ Alleyn said, ‘if that’s not a laughable phrase in the context. None of us saw Mailer or Violetta after Mailer left us, ostensibly to join Mr Dorne at the statue of Apollo in the cloisters of the old church at the middle level of S. Tommaso.’

Sophy had given a little ejaculation.

‘Yes, Miss Jason? You’ve thought of something?’

‘Only just. It may be—it probably is—nothing. But it was during the group-photograph episode.’

‘Yes?’

There was a noise somewhere outside the Mithraeum. Not far away, I’d have thought, but all mixed up and distorted by echoes. A woman’s voice, I think, and then it was—well, kind of cut off. And then—later—a kind of thud. At the time I supposed somebody—somewhere—had shut a very heavy door.’

‘I remember!’ the Baron ejaculated. ‘I remember perfectly! It was when I took my picture of the group.’

‘Yes? You do?’ Sophy said. ‘A kind of bang—thumping noise?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Like a door?’

‘A very heavy door.’

‘Yes,’ Alleyn agreed, ‘it did sound rather like that, didn’t it?’

‘But,’ Sophy said, turning white, ‘there aren’t any heavy doors down there that I can remember.’ She appealed to Grant. ‘Are there?’

‘No. No doors,’ he said.

‘So I wonder if it was something else—something being dropped, for instance. Not from a great height. Just a little way. But something very heavy.’

‘Like a stone lid?’ Alleyn suggested.

Sophy nodded.

CHAPTER 7
Afternoon

When Alleyn asked the travellers not to leave Rome for the present there was a great outcry from Lady Braceley and Major Sweet. The Major talked noisily about his rights as a British subject. Lady Braceley lamented and referred to persons in high places to whom she commanded immediate access. She was silenced at last by her nephew, who muttered and cajoled. She shed tears which she dexterously manipulated with the folded edge of her handkerchief.

The Major seemed to be sensibly influenced by the information that additional expenses would be met. He subsided into a sullen and wary acquiescence.

Grant, Sophy and the Van der Veghels were temperate in their reactions. What, as the Baroness rhetorically and vaguely asked, could one do against Fate? Her husband, at a more realistic level, said that while it was inconvenient, it was at the same time obligatory upon them to remain in situ if circumstances seemed to require their presence.

Grant said impatiently that he had intended to stay in Rome anyway and Sophy said her holiday extended over the next four weeks. While she had made vague plans for Perugia and Florence she was perfectly ready to postpone them.

They broke up at half past one. The travellers, with the exception of Grant and Sophy, availed themselves of the large car provided by Valdarno. Alleyn had a brief talk with the Questore and with appropriate regrets declined an invitation for luncheon. He had, he said, to write a report.