‘You could say that.’ Penrose took him to one side and briefed him on what had happened. ‘I’m hoping for some physical evidence to prove which one of them is telling the truth,’ he said, ‘but in the meantime, you’ll have my full report first thing in the morning.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
He watched as the Pendeans were escorted to the boat, then a thought struck him. ‘Wait a moment,’ he called. The policeman did as he asked and the couple turned back in surprise. ‘Which of the three kings was the murder weapon?’ he asked, looking quickly between them for their separate reactions.
Tom hesitated, baffled by the question, but Nora answered immediately. ‘Melchior,’ she said. ‘I killed Emily with Melchior.’
‘But I don’t know their names,’ her husband objected. ‘That doesn’t mean—’
‘Gold, frankincense or myrrh, Mr Pendean?’ Penrose interrupted. ‘If you washed the figure, surely you noticed what he was carrying?’
‘Myrrh,’ Pendean said, looking nervously at Nora.
Penrose saw the relief on her face as her husband gave the wrong answer, and nodded to his colleagues to take them away. Deep in thought, he walked back along the harbour to the sail loft. Usually, it would have frustrated him to hand over a case before it was finished, but he was happy to let this one go. Perhaps it was because the island was so close to his heart, perhaps because he felt sorry for Hilaria, but the sadness of the day had affected him more than he would have cared to admit. ‘So, Mr Penrose, will we all sleep safely in our beds tonight?’
He looked up and saw Marlene standing by the harbour wall, smoking a cigarette and looking out to sea. ‘Some of us will,’ he said, walking over to join her. ‘Some of us might struggle a little.’
She passed him her cigarette case. ‘I’m so glad you have come back. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.’
‘You’re going?’
‘In the morning, yes. Miss St Aubyn has offered me a car to the airfield at Torquay. I’m going to Paris to be with Maria and her father. At times like this, you realise how important family is.’
Penrose nodded, suddenly longing more than anything to see his own daughter. ‘Yes, you’re right.’
‘It has been such a pleasure to meet you, Archie. I wish the circumstances had been different – we might have had time to get to know each other better. You must come and see me when I’m next in London. Promise me you will.’
‘I promise.’
They went back inside, where some of the islanders had begun to gather. Johnny was surrounded by well-wishers, and Penrose waited to speak to him. ‘As soon as there’s any news, you’ll be the first to know,’ he said, when he had explained what was happening.
‘And you and Miss Carter must stay at the castle for as long as you need to,’ Hilaria added. ‘It goes without saying that we would love you both to make your home on the island. Your mother ran the museum for so many years, and I can’t think of anyone better to take over the reins. Take some time to talk it through. You don’t have to give me your answer until you’re ready.’
Penrose saw the look of horror pass across Violet’s face, but she needn’t have worried. ‘That’s very kind, Miss, and I know how much the Mount meant to my mother, but we’ve got our own life now,’ Johnny said. He squeezed Violet’s hand. ‘We’re happy as we are, but thank you for the offer.’
Hilaria smiled. ‘Well, if you change your mind, you’ll always be welcome here.’
‘Will you go away for a while now?’ Penrose asked her, as she watched them walk off together.
‘You must have read my mind. I’ll spend a few days with my father when everything is settled here, then go abroad for a bit. Somewhere hot, I think, where they don’t hold much with Christmas.’ He smiled, but she didn’t return it. ‘Not for long, though. I’ll have to leave permanently sooner or later, so I want to make the most of the time I’ve got left. There are still things to do.’
She left him to greet some new arrivals, and Penrose was grateful to slip quietly away for some time on his own. He lit another cigarette and stared up at the sky, which was remarkably clear and still after the violence of the storms, strewn with frosted white stars that offered all the light he needed. In the distance, he heard the chugging of a boat and watched as it approached the island, cutting its engine as it entered the harbour. The boatman jumped out and helped a woman with a suitcase to climb the steps, then set off back to the mainland, and Penrose watched as Josephine and Marta walked along the pier to welcome the house party’s final guest. To his surprise, they obviously knew her, and as the three women hugged and turned towards the castle, he wondered why they hadn’t mentioned that Mrs Carmichael was a friend.
He caught them up by the old dairy, halfway up the Mount. Josephine saw him first and gave him that smile again, then caught the stranger’s arm. The woman turned round, unwinding the scarf from her face, and Archie stared at his daughter in astonishment and joy. ‘Phyllis! What on earth are you doing here? And what’s all this about Mrs Carmichael? Surely you haven’t got married without telling me?’
Phyllis threw back her head and laughed, then put her case down and gave him a hug. ‘Of course I haven’t! And you’ll have to ask Josephine and Marta about Mrs Carmichael. They made all her arrangements.’
‘With a little help from fate,’ Josephine said. ‘Phyllis is our Christmas present to you. She was coming as a surprise to Loe House, but then the plans changed and we had to sort everything out with Hilaria. We didn’t want to give the game away, though, so we invented the mysterious Mrs Carmichael for the sake of the guest list.’
‘Except Mrs Carmichael got held up in the blizzards and missed her connection, so she had to spend the night at the hotel in Marazion.’
‘You were at the Godolphin Hotel all the time I was there?’ he asked, and Phyllis nodded. ‘Why didn’t you let me know?’
‘Because you were obviously busy! I heard about what was going on from the staff, so I thought I’d better wait until things were more peaceful. Anyway, I wanted it to be special – we’ve never spent Christmas Day together before.’ Phyllis had been born during the war, but Archie and her mother had drifted apart and Archie had been oblivious to her existence until very recently. Missing her childhood had angered and saddened him, but now, as Phyllis smiled at him and gave him another hug, he couldn’t imagine loving his daughter more, even if he had been part of her life all along. ‘Please tell me that Marlene Dietrich really is here?’ she said. ‘I’ve been dying to meet her.’
‘You’re just in time. She’s leaving in the morning, but I’ll introduce you later.’
‘What’s she like?’
‘Fabulous,’ Marta said, ‘and she likes your father very much. In fact …’
They walked ahead, chatting about Marlene, while Josephine hung back with Archie. ‘I’ll never forget the look on your face just now,’ she said, taking his arm. ‘It made Christmas what it’s supposed to be.’
‘Thank you, Josephine,’ he said. ‘This would have been a wonderful surprise at any time, but after everything that’s happened since we got here …’