‘Apparently not, but there is some evidence—’

‘Ah! I had forgotten. But on the face of it no one had seen Mailer after he walked down the passage?’

‘On the face of it—nobody.’

‘We must question these people.’

‘I agree with you,’ said Alleyn.

For some seconds the Questore fixed his mournful gaze upon Alleyn.

‘It must be done with tact,’ he said. ‘They are persons of some consequence. There could be undesirable developments. All but two,’ he added, ‘are British citizens.’

Alleyn waited.

‘In fact,’ said Valdarno, ‘it appears to me, my Superintendent, that there is no longer any cause for you to preserve your anonymity.’

‘I haven’t thought that one out but—no, I suppose you’re right.’

One of the Agenti came in.

‘The Squadra Omicidi, Signor Questore, the ambulance, Vice-Questore and the doctor.’

‘Very well. Bring them.’

When the man had gone Valdarno said, ‘I have, of course, sent for the officer who would normally conduct this inquiry, Il Vice-Questore Bergarmi. It would not be fitting for me to engage myself in my subordinate’s duties. But in view of extraordinary circumstances and international implications I shall not entirely dissociate myself. Besides,’ he added with a totally unexpected flash of candour, ‘I am enjoying myself prodigiously.’

For Alleyn the confrontation at close quarters with a strangled woman had not triggered off an upsurge of pleasure. However, he said something vague about fieldwork as an antidote to the desk. Valdarno developed his theme.

‘My suggestion,’ he said, ‘is this and you shall tell me if I am faulty. I propose to invite these people to my office where they will be received with ceremoniale. There will be no hint of compulsion but on the contrary a glass of wine. I present you in your professional role. I explain a little but not too much. I implore their help and I then push them over to you.’

‘Thank you. It will, don’t you feel, be a little difficult to sustain the interview at this level? I mean, on his own admission to me, Kenneth Dorne has been introduced to soft and then to hard drugs by Mailer. And so, after last night, I believe, has Lady Braceley. And I’m perfectly certain Mailer exercised some sort of pull over Barnaby Grant. Nothing short of blackmail, it seems to me, would have induced Grant to take on the role of prime attraction in yesterday’s conducted tour.’

‘In which case he, at least, will be glad to help in bringing about the arrest of Mailer.’

‘Not if it means publicity of a very damaging kind.’

‘But my dear colleague, will you not assure them that the matter at issue is murder and nothing else? Nothing, as you say, personal.’

‘I think,’ Alleyn said drily, ‘that they are not so simple as to swallow that one.’

The Questore hitched his shoulders and spread his hands. ‘They can be assured,’ he threw out, ‘of our discretion.’