‘She didn’t irritate me. I didn’t really know her.’

‘And you have a falling-out with Leah.’

‘Everyone fell out with Leah.’

‘Two alternatives strike me,’ said Kamsky. ‘Either you killed these women, which doesn’t seem very likely, or someone wanted you to find them. I take it you won’t mind if we go through your room?’

Langley gestured Kamsky away, then leaned close to me so that he could speak in a whisper. ‘Think before agreeing to this,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to let them go on a fishing expedition. But they’ll get a warrant.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said.

‘You’re sure there is nothing in your possession that might be problematic?’

I shook my head and spoke directly to Kamsky. ‘Just tidy up after you,’ I said.

Chapter Twenty

When I was dropped back at the house, dazed from the repetition of my story, I felt like a traveller who had returned home after many years to find everything different. Mick was in the hall when I arrived. He looked at me with concern. ‘Police?’ he said.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘They’ll be wanting to talk to all of you in the house. So you’d better come up with a good story about where you were at about ten this morning.’

‘I didn’t get in until three,’ said Mick. ‘So I was asleep.’

‘Can anyone vouch for that?’

‘No.’

‘That’s not exactly watertight.’

‘I’ll see you,’ said Mick, and walked past me out of the front door.

I knocked on Pippa’s door and she waved me inside without a word. She took a half-bottle of Scotch and a tumbler from a shelf, then glanced around. There was another tumbler on her desk, next to her opened laptop. It was filled with pens, pencils, a chain of paperclips. She emptied them out with a clatter. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I’ll have this one.’

She pulled the front of her T-shirt out from under her belt and used it to wipe the tumbler. Then she tipped Scotch into both. ‘Water?’ she said.

‘This’ll do fine,’ I said.

‘I’m tempted to say that we need clear heads,’ said Pippa. ‘But on second thoughts, I don’t see the point. Cheers.’

We gulped at the Scotch a little too deeply and both flinched, as if in pain, at the same time. Pippa smiled. ‘Was Seth all right?’

‘He spent half his time trying to shut me up. But thanks. What’s happening?’

‘Gnashing of teeth,’ said Pippa. ‘Wailing. Rending of garments. What do you expect?’

‘Who’s in?’

‘I came home early. I haven’t seen Mick or Owen, though I believe they’re both here somewhere. Miles was around, looking like a ghost. Whimpering. Dario freaked out. I went up to see him and he was scrubbing his room with bleach, terrified that Forensics were going to find traces of drugs. I tried to explain that the police would find traces of bleach more suspicious. He started raving about what he should do to get rid of the bleach. I stumbled on Mel sobbing in the kitchen with Davy comforting her. That’s suspicious behaviour for a start. Anyone who’s upset about Leah really must have a screw loose.’

‘Pippa, for Christ’s sake,’ I said, ‘she was murdered today. You can’t mean that.’

Pippa took a sip of her drink. She didn’t seem particularly chastened by what I’d said. ‘It’s a strange kind of guilt,’ she said. ‘You wish someone ill and they get more ill than you wanted.’

‘I know.’

Pippa lit a cigarette and took a drag. ‘I’m sorry she died,’ she said. ‘And shocked. But I’m not going to pretend I didn’t hate her.’

‘Don’t you think life’s too short to waste on hating people?’

‘That’s a bit Zen for me,’ said Pippa.

‘Were the police round?’

‘A couple of officers were holed up with Miles for ages. They left just before you arrived. They’ll be interviewing the rest of us tomorrow. Unsurprisingly.’

‘Right.’

‘I’ve been planning my alibi. I was at work. What’s yours?’

‘It’s that I found her body but didn’t kill her.’

‘Your friend Campbell phoned. They pulled him in for questioning too.’

‘Why?’

‘He’s the one who keeps sending you to stumble over corpses.’

‘I don’t think he has much of a motive,’ I said, ‘except for hating the clients. Which we all do. Anyway, that doesn’t explain Peggy Farrell.’

‘All roads lead to this house,’ said Pippa.

‘Except for Ingrid de Soto.’

‘It’s you, isn’t it?’ said Pippa, thoughtfully. ‘The only thing they have in common is you. Do you think someone is killing people who get on your nerves? As a sort of favour?’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘But the police are already on to that one.’

I looked down at the tumbler. It was empty. How had I managed that?

‘What’s going to happen?’ I said.

‘What do you mean?’ said Pippa. ‘To us? To the world?’

‘Us. This house.’

‘I’m going to pack tomorrow,’ said Pippa.

‘Do you know where you’re going?’

‘I’m making inquiries. By the way, I’m sorry.’

‘What about?’

‘Owen.’

‘Oh, that. It all seems a long time ago. You slept with Owen, I slept with Owen. What’s to apologize about?’

I walked into the kitchen and saw Davy, Mel and Miles in a huddle around the table.

‘Was it horrible?’ asked Davy.

‘Next stupid question,’ I said.

‘The police are going to talk to all of us,’ said Mel.

‘I know.’

‘We were shopping,’ she said. ‘Will they want to know that?’

‘I’m sure they will. Anyway, that lets you off the hook,’ I said. I really wasn’t interested in hearing everybody’s alibis.

Miles stood up. He looked years older; his face had lines and creases in it that I’d never seen before. I walked over to him and hugged him hard. His arms went round me, and as he held me, I felt his entire body shake. After a few moments we stepped back from each other. He started to speak but his voice cracked and he didn’t manage anything intelligible.

‘I’m so sorry,’ I said.

Miles stared at me, still unable to speak. He swallowed. ‘Our last words were bitter ones,’ he said. ‘Whenever I try and remember her, I think of that.’

‘It’s not the last moments that count,’ I said helplessly. ‘It’s all of it.’

He shook his head from side to side, like a wounded animal. ‘You saw her?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did she look…?’ He stopped.

‘She looked quite peaceful,’ I said, as I had said to Andrew de Soto about Ingrid. It’s what you’re meant to say about dead people. It comforts the living, supposedly.

‘I can’t believe she’s gone.’ Tears welled in his eyes. ‘She was so… so alive. So forceful.’

‘That’s true.’

‘I’ve got something for you.’ He tugged a fat envelope out of his pocket and looked at it as if he was surprised to see it, then glanced at Davy and Mel. ‘I wanted to ask you a favour.’

‘Of course, Miles.’

‘Not here,’ he said. He led me out of the kitchen and up the stairs. When we reached the hallway he took a deep breath. ‘I don’t know if everything has changed. I can’t think properly. But I’ve done this. Leah said I had to. It was the last thing she said, almost. It was what we were arguing about.’

‘What? What is it?’

‘Here,’ he said. He pushed the envelope into my hands.

I opened it and saw it was bulging with money. I looked more closely: they were fifty-pound notes. Lots of them, thick like a paperback book.

‘What’s this?’

‘It’s the twenty thousand pounds,’ he said. ‘It’s for you all. A sort of down-payment. Maybe you should all stay. I don’t know anything. Take it anyway. I don’t care any more. I didn’t know who to give it to.’

‘I can’t take twenty thousand in cash, Miles!’

‘You share it out. I don’t care how you do it.’

‘But it’s ridiculous. I can’t walk around with all this money. I’ve never seen so much.’ Miles didn’t seem as if he was really listening to me. ‘I’ll put it somewhere,’ I said, ‘and then we can talk. You shouldn’t be thinking about this now. You shouldn’t be making decisions about anything.’