Ivo resumed his contemplation of the water lilies. 'I don't think anything is ever perfectly obvious to the police. But I dare say you're right. There's enough mystery without making more. Are there any marks of violence on the body?'

Cordelia said:

'Not that I can see.'

Roma said obstinately:

'We can't leave him here. I think we should take him indoors.' She looked at Cordelia as if inviting her support. Cordelia said: 'I don't think it matters if we move him. It isn't as if we found him like this.'

They all looked at Ambrose as if waiting for instructions. He said:

'Before we move him, please come with me all of you. There's something we have to decide.'

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

They followed him towards the castle. Only Simon glanced behind him at the ungainly lump of cold flesh, still spread-eagled, which had been Munter. His glance conveyed an embarrassed regret, almost a look of apology that they should have to desert him, leave him so uncomfortably circumstanced.

Ambrose led them into the business room and switched on the desk lamp. The atmosphere was at once conspiratorial; they were like a gang of dressing-gowned schoolchildren planning a midnight prank. He said:

'We have a decision to make. Do we tell Grogan what happened at dinner? I think we ought to agree this before I telephone the police.'

Ivo said:

'If you mean, do we tell the police that Munter accused Ralston of murder, why not say so plainly?'

Simon's hair, plastered over his brow and dripping water into his eyes, looked unnaturally black. He was shivering under the dressing-gown. He looked from face to face, astounded.

'But he didn't accuse Sir George of… well, of any particular murder. And he was drunk! He didn't know what he was saying. You all saw him. He was drunk!' His voice was getting dangerously close to hysteria.

Ambrose spoke with a trace of impatience.

'No one here thinks it of any importance. But the police may. And anything that Munter did or said during the last hours of his life will obviously interest them. There's a lot to be said for saying nothing, for not complicating the investigation. But we have to give roughly the same account. If some tell and the others don't, those who opt for reticence will obviously be placed in an invidious position.'

Simon said:

'Do you mean that we pretend that he didn't come in through the dining-room windows, that we didn't see him?'

'Of course not. He was drunk and we all saw him in that state. We tell the police the truth. The only question is, how much of the truth?'

Cordelia said quietly:

'It isn't only Munter's shouted accusation at Sir George. After you and Simon had taken Munter out Sir George told us about an army friend of his who had drunk in just that compulsive way…'

Ivo finished the sentence for her:

'And had been drowned in just that way. The police will find that an interesting coincidence. So unless Sir George told you both the same story on a different occasion – which I take it he didn't – Cordelia and I are already in what you might call an invidious position.'

Ambrose took in this information in silence. It seemed to give him some satisfaction. Then he pronounced:

'In that case the choice would seem to be; do we all give a truthful account of the evening's proceedings or do we omit Munter's shout of "murder" and the story about Ralston's unfortunate friend?'

Cordelia said:

'I think we should tell the truth. Lying to the police isn't as easy as it sounds.' Roma said:

'You speak from experience perhaps.'

Cordelia ignored the note of malice and went on:

'They'll question us closely. What did Munter say when he burst in? What did the rest of us talk about when Ambrose and Simon were helping him to bed? It isn't only a question of omitting embarrassing facts. We have to agree on the same lies. That's apart from any moral considerations.'

Ambrose said easily:

'I don't think we need complicate the decision with moral considerations. Doing evil that good may come is a perfectly valid option whatever the theologians tell you. Besides, I imagine that we all did a little judicious editing in our interviews with Grogan. I did. He seemed to feel that my staging the play for Clarissa required explaining so I told him that she gave me the idea for Autopsy. An ingenious but quite unnecessary lie. So our first decision is easy. We tell the truth, or we agree on a story. I suggest we take a secret ballot.'

Ivo said quietly:

'Here, or do we all repair to the crypt?'

Ambrose ignored him. He turned first to where Simon stood, his chattering mouth half open, his washed face pale under the feverish eyes, and thought better of it. He said to Cordelia with formal courtesy:

'Would you be good enough to bring me two cups from the kitchen? I think you know the way.'

The short journey, the incongruous errand, seemed to her of immense significance. She walked down the empty passages and into the kitchen and took down two breakfast cups from the dresser with grave deliberateness as if an unseen audience were watching the grace of every movement. When she got back to the business room it seemed to her that no one had moved.

Ambrose thanked her gravely and placed the cups side by side on the desk. Then he went out to the display cabinet and returned carrying the round board with its coloured marbles, Princess Victoria's solitaire board. He said: 'We each take a marble. Then we close our eyes – no peeping I implore you – and drop them into one of the cups. We'll make it easy to remember. The left cup for the more sinister option, the right for righteousness. You'll see that I've even aligned the handles appropriately so there's no excuse for confusion. When we've heard the five marbles drop we open our eyes. It's convenient that Roma wasn't at dinner. There's no possibility of a tie.'

Sir George spoke for the first time. He said:

'You're wasting time, Gorringe. You'd better ring for the police now. Obviously we tell Grogan the truth.'

Ambrose took his marble, selecting it with some care and examining its veining as if he were a connoisseur of such trifles.

'If that's what you want, that's what you vote for.'

Ivo said:

'Do you then intend to take a second ballot to decide whether we tell the police about the first ballot?'

But he took a marble. Sir George, Simon and Cordelia followed. She closed her eyes. There was a second's silence and then she heard the first marble tinkle into the cup. The second followed almost immediately, then a third. She stretched out her hands. They were briefly brushed by ice-cold fingers. She felt for the cups and placed a hand on each so that there could be no mistake. Then she dropped the marble into the right-hand cup. A second later she heard the last marble fall. The sound was unexpectedly loud; it must have been dropped from a height. She opened her eyes. Her companions were all blinking as if the period of darkness had lasted for hours, not seconds. Together they looked into the cups. The right-hand one held three marbles.

Ambrose said:

'Well, that simplifies matters. We tell the truth, apart of course, from mentioning this little divertissement. We came together into the business room and you all sat here together appropriately subdued while I rang the police. We've only spent a few minutes so there will be no embarrassing hiatus of time to account for.'

He replaced the marbles, after carefully scrutinizing each one, handed the two cups to Cordelia, and took up the telephone receiver. As she was returning the cups to the kitchen two thoughts chiefly occupied her. Why had Sir George waited until the ballot was inevitable before announcing that he favoured the truth, and which of the other two of them had dropped their marbles into the left-hand cup? She did briefly wonder whether anyone could have transferred someone else's marble in addition to dropping his own, but decided that this would have required some sleight of hand even if done with open eyes. Her own ears were exceptionally sharp and they had detected only the four clear tinkles as the other marbles fell.