"D'you think I'm a liar, sir? You look a bit funny. For instance! At shortly past twelve, you had a visitor."
The visitor had been Ruth Callice, of course.
Martin, his arm round Jenny's shoulder and the caress of her hair under his cheek, felt such a cold rush of guilty conscience that he was within a quarter-syllable of speaking out and denying it. At the same moment Jenny raised her head round and up, looked at Martin casually, and returned to her former position without comment After a quick heat of emotional temperature, Jenny's shoulder seemed to become as cool and lifeless as though it did not exist at all; as though it rested there out of mere politeness. If there could have been a mental conversation between them, Jenny would have begun.
(Please don't think Fm annoyed. I knew it would happen some time that night).
(What are you talking about?)
(The same thing you're thinking about. How far did it go?)
But Masters, or so the Chief Inspector believed, had no intention of giving away a fellow-male.
"A visitor," he repeated judicially. "Well, no harm in that I could see it in two seconds. Later the — hurrum! — the bloke went back the same way. Then nothing happened until a quarter to one. But at a quarter to one I heard someone else rustle in that aisle."
Both Martin and Jenny were jarred out of their mental conversation. Both sat up. The sound of We're All Together Now, mixed with crowd-babble, seemed to swirl higher."Somebody else?"
"Somebody, anyhow. It was just a bit of a faint rustle you could hardly hear, 'Streweth!" said Masters. "If I'd been younger in the force, I might have got the wind up myself.