Dark Room

you do that, Miles?'

He nodded and stood up. 'As long as you don't let me down.'

Blake put a firm hand on his arm and steered him towards the windows. 'This way, Mr. Kingsley. We've a car waiting outside.'

'What about my Porsche?'

She held out her hand. 'If you'll give me your keys, I'll have one of these officers drive it for you.' She nodded towards the two Salisbury policemen. 'He can follow along behind us.'

Miles fished them out of his pocket and thrust them into her palm with bad grace. She looked at the fob, a black disc with gold lettering, then led him away.

With shaking hands, Jinx reached for her cigarette packet off the arm of her chair, then retreated to the dressing table and its firm, supportive edge. She looked briefly towards Alan Protheroe, who was leaning against the wall by the door, then turned her attention to Frank Cheever. 'I recognize you from the television,' she told him, lighting a cigarette with difficulty. 'You gave a press conference the other day, but I'm afraid I can't remember your name.'

'Detective Superintendent Cheever,' he told her.

She glanced at Maddocks. 'Then you're here to talk about Leo and Meg?' Frank nodded.

'And you think Miles might have done it, because of what happened to these wretched women?'

'It's a possibility.'

She nodded. 'In your shoes, I'd probably say the same.'

'And if the roles were reversed and I were in your shoes, what would I say then?'

She stared at him rather strangely for a moment. 'I think you'd be too busy stifling the screams inside your head to say anything at all.'

Frank watched her. 'Are you well enough to talk to us, Miss Kingsley?'

'Yes.'

'You don't have to,' said Alan sharply. 'I'm sure the Superintendent will give you time to recover.'

That amused her. 'They kept telling me that when Russell died. It meant I could have ten minutes to compose myself before they started in again.' She took a pull on her cigarette. 'The trouble is, you never recover from something like that, so ten minutes is just time wasted, and as I need to phone my father, I'd rather get this over and done with as quickly as possible.'

'Please,' said Frank, gesturing towards the telephone. 'We'll go outside while you do it.'

She shook her head. 'I'd rather wait till you've gone.'

'Why?' asked Maddocks. 'The sooner your brother has a solicitor with him the better, wouldn't you say?'

'Oddly enough, Inspector, I'd like to work out what I'm going to say first. My father will be devastated to hear his son's been accused of a brutal sex attack. Wouldn't yours? Or is that something he's come to expect from you?' She turned abruptly to the Superintendent again. 'Miles didn't kill Russell, so if the same person went on to kill Leo and Meg, then it wasn't Miles.'

'Do you mind if we sit down?' he asked.

'Be my guest.'

The two policemen moved across to the chairs, but Alan remained where he was. 'Why are you so sure he didn't kill Russell?'

She thought deeply for several seconds before she answered, and then she did so elliptically. 'It's rather ironic, really, considering I've just told him to keep quiet until he has a solicitor present. You see, I'm not convinced solicitors always give good advice. I consulted one after Russell was murdered,' she told them, 'because it became clear to me that I was at the top of the list of suspects. He persuaded me to be very circumspect in how I answered police questions. Do not volunteer information, keep all your answers to the minimum, avoid speculation, and tell them only what you know to be true.' She sighed. 'But I think now I'd have done better to say everything that was in my mind, because all I achieved was to raise the level of suspicion against my father.' She fell silent.

'That's hardly an answer to my question, Miss Kingsley.'

She stared at the floor, taking quick, nervous drags at the cigarette. 'We were talking about Russell's death before you came in,' she said suddenly. 'Miles told me he's always believed my father was responsible, which means he and Fergus could indulge in petty deceit after petty deceit without a second thought. Nicking twenty quid off the gardener or forging their mother's checks counts for nothing against the enormity of murder.' She looked up. 'But what Miles believes-indeed, what anyone believes- is confined by his own prejudices, and in this instance it is very important that you understand how desperate my brother has always been to feel superior to his father.'

'Does he have proof of your father's complicity in your husband's murder?'

'No, of course he doesn't, because Adam wasn't involved.'

'But presumably you can't prove that any more than your brother can prove he was.' He smiled without hostility. 'Truth is a disturbingly elusive phenomenon. All I, as a policeman, can do is accumulate the available facts and weigh them in the balance. In the end, I hope, truth carries weight.'

'Then why do so many policemen only hear what they want to hear?'

'Because we're human and, as you said yourself, belief is confined by prejudice.' He gestured towards Maddocks. 'But I think we're both professional enough to stay objective about what you tell us, so I hope that gives you the confidence to speak out.'

She drew on her cigarette and gazed steadily at Maddocks. 'Would you agree with that, Inspector?'