Dark Room

Alan folded his arms. 'He can't have a worse press than he's had in the last couple of days, so what does it matter what your brothers might have said?'

'It would have mattered four weeks ago,' she said through gritted teeth. 'Four weeks ago he was planning a society wedding and he couldn't afford any scandal, not if his precious Jinx was to have her day. Miles was right. It is my fault. If I'd had the sense to tell them I didn't want to go through with the bloody thing, well...' She fell silent again.

He watched her for a moment. 'As a matter of interest, why didn't he kick them out at twenty-one and tell them to fend for themselves?'

She didn't answer immediately. 'Because they'd have done this anyway,' she said at last. 'If he'd turned them loose, he'd still be expected to pay their debts. I think he hoped that by keeping them close he could check their worst excesses.' She bent her head so that he couldn't see her expression. 'They've always wanted to throw his money in his face the way I do, but get-rich-quick schemes were all they could think of.'

Was that her subtle revenge, he wondered, pissing publicly on what her father valued most, his self-made wealth?

'He's making good his threat now,' she went on flatly. 'He's going to turn them off without a penny and divorce Betty.'

'Do you blame him?'

'No.'

'What will happen to them?'

'I don't know. I doubt he can leave Betty penniless because the courts won't allow it'-she pressed her forehead into her clasped hands-'but I'm not sure about Miles and Fergus. He says he doesn't care anymore.'

She was more upset than he would have expected. If she had any love for her stepmother and her two brothers, she had always hid it well. 'There is a bright side,' he said after a moment. 'If your father's had them watched for the last four weeks, then presumably one thing you can be sure of is that neither of them is guilty of the murder of Leo and Meg, or for that matter responsible for the attack on me.'

'I never thought they were,' she muttered at the bed.

'Didn't you?' he said, injecting surprise into his voice. 'They've always struck me as likely candidates. They're self-centered, not overly bright, and very used to getting their own way, usually through you or their mother. I can imagine both seeing murder as a solution to a problem.'

'It never occurred to me,' she said stubbornly.

Of course it didn't, because you've always known who the murderer is. 'I wish you'd tell me why you don't trust me,' he said in a carefully impassive voice. 'What have I ever said or done to make you feel you can't?'

She rested her chin on her hand and regarded him just as impassively. 'How do you know it wasn't me who attacked you?'

He took the sudden switch in his stride. 'It didn't look like you.'

'Matthew says it was dark, the person was dressed in black, and the only description you could give was five feet ten and medium build.'

'How does Matthew know what I said?' asked Alan.

'Everyone knows.'

'Veronica Gordon,' he murmured. 'One of these days that woman's going to talk herself out of a job.' He watched her curiously for a moment. 'Look, there are plenty of compelling reasons why it couldn't have been you. You're too weak to wield a sledgehammer. You've no reason to want to attack me. You didn't know when I was coming back, and I'd ordered half-hourly checks to be made on you before I left. If you'd been out of your room, Amy or Veronica would have noticed.'

'Except that I was out of my room.'

He made no attempt to pretend surprise.

'After Sister Gordon did her nine o'clock rounds,' she went on, 'Amy took over. I was in bed with my light out the first time she came. The second time, I was in the bathroom in darkness, and she didn't bother to check whether the pillow I'd stuffed down in the bed was me or not. After that, I got dressed and went outside. I was wearing black jeans and a black sweater. I'm five feet ten, and before the crash I weighed ten stone, so my clothes can easily take some padding.'

'Go on,' he said.

'I wanted to know why Adam had sent Kennedy over, so I thought I'd waylay you. I waited under the beech tree until I was so tired I couldn't wait any longer; then I went back to bed and fell asleep with my clothes on. I was having a nightmare when Amy found me. I'm amazed she didn't report it. She was scared stiff I'd been doing something I shouldn't and might be held responsible.' She examined his face. 'Or perhaps she did report it and you haven't told me.'

He shook his head. 'No.'

'Then obviously she trusts me more than she trusts you, Dr. Protheroe.'

He lifted an eyebrow. 'Is that what this was? A lesson in who's trustworthy and who isn't?'

'More or less,' she said, refusing to look at him. 'You already knew I was outside-Matthew heard you calling my name-but you've never mentioned it, not to me anyway.'

Damn Matthew to hell and back! He was going to shred the little toe-rag the first chance he got. 'Only because I realized I'd made a mistake. I thought I saw you at the side of the road as I drove in, but as it wasn't you who attacked me, I saw no point in mentioning it. Does that set your mind at rest?'

'No,' she said bluntly. 'You talk about trust as if it can be had for the asking. Well, it can't, not when you're up