Lily began to smile at the picture he was drawing.

‘And they are young men. What would you say? – twenty-two? three? Not much older than you, Lily, but a good deal younger than me in age and experience. And boys horse about. Especially in swimming pools at midnight when they’ve both had a brandy or two they shouldn’t have had! I think it all sounded much more sinister to you than it should have done because they were trying to splash about without drawing attention.’

Lily was looking at him with a good deal more brightness in her expression. ‘I guess you could be right, Joe. But, well, whatever the truth of that, Zeman still broke his date with me!’

‘And now you’ll never kiss a Pathan!’ Joe teased gently. ‘But look, realistically, you were never going to. He would never seriously have expected you to meet him in the garden, Lily. In his world women go about veiled or even wearing a burkha. Their faces are seen only by other women or the men in their immediate family and their marriages are arranged for them by their parents. Zeman knows that things are done differently in the West but he would never have thought that you would agree to a clandestine meeting with him unchaperoned in the garden.’

‘I suppose you’re right, Joe.’

‘But, shocking though it was, I’m thinking your midnight encounter has an even more sinister significance.’

‘Too right! You see it, don’t you? Thought you would! If Zeman was alive – and he was – at the time Dr Holbrook says he was dead or dying, then she’s either an incompetent doctor or she’s telling a deliberate lie. Dr Holbrook? I can’t believe it! And is James aware of this? And Betty? What’s going on here?’

‘You were aware of this inconsistency all the time we were deliberating and enquiring and you said nothing? Lily, that was a very, what shall I say?… mature decision.’

‘Aw, thanks! You people keep telling me not to rock the boat, light any fuses and ruffle any feathers – “this is a delicate situation we have here on the frontier.” I thought I’d better keep my mouth shut and go with what James and Grace were stitching up between them. I figure they must have a good reason. And anyway, I’d rather no one knew about my experience in the garden. But you do see the significance, don’t you?’

Joe nodded thoughtfully. ‘It’s not only you who knows that the timing is all wrong… ’

‘Iskander! He knows! I had to wait in the trees until they’d finished whatever they were doing in the pool sometime between half-past twelve and one o’clock. But it wasn’t over then. They sat on the marble bench drying off and talking for… it seemed ages but I guess it must have been about ten minutes – no more than a quarter of an hour.’

‘Talking? What sort of talking were they doing?’

‘Pushtu talking… couldn’t figure out a word… but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t understand some things.’

Joe waited and she went on, ‘It wasn’t exactly a lovers’ tiff but things did seem to turn a bit sour as they talked.’

Lily frowned in an effort to remember clearly her impressions. ‘Zeman sounded kind of light-hearted whereas Iskander was threatening him… telling him off? He was certainly hissing at him a bit. I’d say they’d started off their evening adventure in high spirits but finished off not too happy with each other. No idea why. But anyway, by the time they drifted off to their rooms it must have been gone one o’clock.

‘Iskander knows that his friend went to bed in perfectly good health just when the medical expert is saying that he died. He’s going to draw conclusions, has already drawn conclusions and I’m not happy when I think about them.’

The gravity of the implications had been creeping up on Joe as she had revealed her story. ‘Iskander seemed very prepared to accept Grace’s version of events, even to the extent of smoothing her path and having all verified as above board by his officers. I thought he was as concerned as we were that there should be no charge of foul play.’

‘He was,’ Lily confirmed. ‘I was watching him. He was happy with the decision and relieved, I think. But then, right at the end, he asked about the time of death and Grace’s reply blew the top off the jam jar. He gave her a chance to change her mind or adjust her finding but she stuck to what she’d said and that’s when his attitude changed.’

‘You seem to have been keeping a close eye on him?’

‘I spend a lot of time watching Iskander,’ said Lily.

‘So, where do we go from here? Shall I confide your evidence to James and question him on the stance he’s taken?’

‘You’re the detective, you tell me!’

‘Fine. Then this is what we’ll do. We’d better sort this out ourselves, Lily, and we must be circumspect. I think Iskander has been alerted to some sort of underhand shenanigans and since he’s not challenged James openly, I think he’s gone away to work it out for himself and plan his next action. It looks bad, I’m afraid. If he concludes that there’s been a lapse in the protection offered by the fort, if Zeman’s death should prove to have been intentional, then it will be incumbent on him to seek revenge. I think he will try to avoid this if he can but once he’s certain that an injustice has been done he’ll act. He’ll act swiftly, what’s more. He’s never likely to be offered such an opportunity again after all. – He’s a welcome guest, the subject of much sympathy, free to go wherever he likes in the fort… the Trojan Horse who could let in thirty Afghan warriors screaming for badal. Oh, I can tell you, Lily, I don’t like to hear what I’m saying!’

‘We can’t do a thing until we find out what really happened. Come on, Joe, you say you’re from Scotland Yard – would you have been happy with the combined investigation and coroner’s court we’ve just been through?’

‘Good Lord, no! I know we haven’t got any of the facilities I would normally be able to call on but all the same there’s quite a bit more we could do.’

‘Where do we start?’ asked Lily eagerly.

‘I would have said with the body but they’ll have taken it off for burial by now. Even if they haven’t, a policeman poking about in the orifices wouldn’t exactly calm any Afghan suspicions.’ He considered for a moment and then asked, ‘Do you think we could find our way into the hospital without being observed?’

‘Sure. If we work around the wall instead of going straight down the main path we could do it. Together or separately?’

‘I’m supposed to be riding herd on you so on the whole I think less suspicious if we’re together.’

‘Fine. If anyone sees us, you’re bored out of your brains helping me look for that silver bracelet I dropped somewhere in the grounds this morning.’

A few minutes later they had slipped into the room where Zeman’s body had been laid out. The table on which it had lain was empty but Joe was looking for something else. He found it in a neat pile set by the door awaiting collection by the orderly. Locking the door, he picked up Zeman’s clothing and put it on the table.

‘And this is a bit odd, don’t you think so, Joe? He was wearing his uniform. When I saw him in the garden he was still wearing his evening dress – you know – the waistcoat, the blue turban, the whole outfit. Now why would he have put his uniform on to go to bed? Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me! Don’t these fellers wear pyjamas?’

‘Well,’ said Joe, trying to make sense of it, ‘he might have changed from his evening dress into pyjamas and then back into his uniform if he wanted to make himself respectable to consult the lady doctor in the middle of the night.’

‘Sheesh! That’s more changes than one of Mademoiselle Chanel’s mannequins could perform! But look, Joe – he’s feeling so ill he thinks he may be dying and he takes time to pull on his top boots? Would he have bothered struggling into those?’ Lily shook her head derisively. ‘Such a lot we don’t know about Pathans. Kinda hard to figure!’