Breaker

She shrugged. 'They were looking at a girl on a boat through the binoculars, at least Steve and the older brother were. I think the younger one was bored by it all. Then Bertie got overexcited-'

Galbraith interrupted. 'You said they were looking through binoculars. How did that work exactly? Were they taking it in turns?'

'No, well, that's wrong. It was Paul who was looking; Steve was just holding them steady for him.' She saw his eyebrows lift in inquiry and anticipated his next question. 'Like this.' She made an embracing gesture with her arms. 'He was standing behind Paul, with his arms around him, and holding the binoculars so Paul could look through the eyepieces. The child thought it was funny and kept giggling. It was rather sweet really. I think he was trying to take his mind off the dead woman.' She paused to collect her thoughts. 'Actually, I thought he was their father, till I realized he was too young.'

'One of the boys said he was playing around with his telephone before you arrived. Did you see him do that?'

She shook her head. 'It was clipped to his waistband.'

'What happened next?'

'Bertie got overexcited, so Steve grabbed him and then suggested we put the boys at ease by encouraging them to pat Bertie and Sir Jasper. He said he was used to animals because he'd grown up on a farm in Cornwall.' She frowned. 'Why is any of this important? He was just being friendly.'

'In what way, Miss Jenner?'

Her frown deepened, and she stared at him for a moment, clearly wondering where his questions were leading. 'He wasn't making a nuisance of himself, if that's what you're getting at.'

'Why would I think he was making a nuisance of himself?'

She gave an irritated toss of her head. 'Because it would make things easier for you if he was,' she suggested.

'How?'

'You want him to be the rapist, don't you? Nick certainly does.'

Galbraith's gray eyes appraised her coolly. 'There's a little more to rape than making a nuisance of yourself. Kate Sumner had been dosed with a sleeping drug, she had abrasions to her back, strangle marks at her neck, rope burns to her wrists, broken fingers, and a ruptured vagina. She was then thrown ... alive ... into the sea by someone who undoubtedly knew she was a poor swimmer and wouldn't be able to save herself, even assuming she came around from the effects of the drug. She was also pregnant when she died, which means her baby was murdered with her.' He smiled slightly. 'I realize that you're a very busy person and that the death of an unknown woman is hardly a priority in your life, but PC Ingram and I take it more seriously, probably because we both saw Kate's body and were distressed by it.'

She looked at her hands. 'I apologize,' she said.

'We don't ask questions for the fun of it,' said Galbraith without hostility. 'Matter of fact, most of us find this sort of case very stressful, although the public rarely recognizes it.'

She raised her head, and there was the glimmer of a smile in her dark eyes. 'Point taken,' she said. 'The problem is, I get the impression you're homing in on Steve Harding just because he was there, and that seems unreasonable.'

Galbraith exchanged a glance with Ingram. 'There are other reasons why we're interested in him,' he said, 'but the only one I'm prepared to tell you at the moment is that he'd known the dead woman for quite some time. For that reason alone we'd be investigating him, whether he was at Chapman's Pool on Sunday or not.'

She was thoroughly startled. 'He didn't say he knew her.'

'Would you have expected him to? He told us he never saw the body.'

She turned to Ingram. 'He can't have done, can he? He said he was walking from St. Alban's Head.'

'There's a very good view of Egmont Bight from the coastal path up there,' Ingram reminded her. 'If he had a pair of binoculars, he could have picked her out quite easily.'

'But he didn't,' she protested. 'All he had was a telephone. You made that point yourself.'

Galbraith debated with himself how to put the next question and opted for a straightforward approach. The woman must have a stallion or two in her stables, so she was hardly likely to faint at the mention of a penis. 'Nick says Harding had an erection when he first saw him on Sunday. Would you agree?'

'Either that or he's incredibly well endowed.'

'Were you the cause of it, do you think?'

She didn't answer.

'Well?'

'I've no idea,' she said. 'My feeling at the time was that it was probably the girl on the boat who had got him excited. Walk along Studland beach any sunny day and you'll find a hundred randy eighteen- to twenty-four-year- olds cowering in the water because their dicks react independently of their brains. It's hardly a crime.'

Galbraith shook his head. 'You're a good-looking woman, Miss Jenner, and he was standing close to you. Did you encourage him in any way?'

'No.'

'It is important.'

'Why? All I know is the poor bloke wasn't in absolute control of himself.' She sighed. 'Look, I'm really sorry about the woman. But if Steve was involved, then he never gave me any indication of it. As far as I was concerned, he was a young man out for a walk who made a phone call on behalf of a couple of children.'