Silently he lowered himself over the edge of the roof, turning upside down as he did so. He released the rope and swung head downwards, held only by his ankle. His head and shoulders came just level with the open window and he looked into a big, airy bedroom.
For a moment he couldn’t believe his good luck. He had hit on Frances’s room at his first attempt!
There were three people in the room. Two police women and Frances.
The two police women were sitting away from the window; one was reading, the other was knitting.
Frances sat before a dressing-table. She was brushing her hair.
He hung upside down in the darkness and watched her. After a minute or so, she laid down the hair-brush and stood up. She was wearing a pale-blue silk wrap that accentuated her paleness. She wandered over to an armchair near the window and sat down.
Ferrari swung himself upwards, catching hold of the rope and hauling himself back on to the gutter. He looked at his watch. The time was now half-past nine. He had half an hour to wait.
He waited.
V
Conrad looked up as Forest came into his room.