handle only to find the room locked; from Joy's room to her own where she picked up her desk key from her chest of drawers; from her room to her office where she took the master keys from the bottom drawer of her desk; from her office to Joy's room where she unlocked the door quietly, saw the necklace in the light from the corridor, took it, and relocked the door; from Joy's room to her office where she returned the keys; from her office back to her own room where she replaced the necklace in her jewellery box.
"What time was this?" Lynley asked.
"Three-fi fteen."
"Exactly?"
She nodded and went on to explain. "I don't know whether you've ever done anything impulsive that you regret, Inspector. But I regretted parting with the pearls directly after Elizabeth took them to Joy. I lay in bed trying to decide what to do. I didn't want a confrontation with Joy, I didn't want to burden my brother Stuart with anything else. So I...well, I suppose I stole them, didn't I? And I know it was three-fifteen because I had been lying awake watching the clock and that's what time it was when I fi nally decided to do something about getting my necklace back."
"You said Joy was asleep. Did you see her? Hear her breathing?"
"The room was so dark. I...I suppose I assumed she was asleep. She didn't stir, didn't speak. She..." Her eyes widened. "Do you mean she might have been dead?"
"Did you actually see her in the room at all?"
"You mean in the bed? No, I couldn't see the bed. The door was in the way and I hadn't opened it more than a few inches. I just thought, of course..."
"What about your desk in your offi ce? Was it locked?"
"Oh yes," she replied. "It's always locked."
"Who has keys to it?"
"I have one key. Mary Agnes has the other."
"And could anyone have seen you going from your room to Joy's? Or going to the office? On either of the two trips?"
"I didn't notice anyone. But I suppose..." She shook her head. "I just don't know."
"But you would have passed any number of rooms to make the trips, wouldn't you?"
"Of course, anyone on the main corridor could have seen me if they were up and about. But surely I would have noticed that. Or heard a door opening."
Lynley went to join Macaskin who was already on his feet, examining the fl oor plan that was still spread out upon the table from their earlier interview with David Sydeham. Four rooms had immediate access to the main corridor besides the rooms belonging to Lady Helen and Joy Sinclair: Joanna Ellacourt and David Sydeham's room, Lord Stinhurst and his wife's, the unused room of Rhys Davies-Jones, and Irene Sinclair's at the junction of the main corridor and the west wing of the house.
"Surely there's truth to what the woman is saying," Macaskin muttered to Lynley as they looked the floor plan over. "Surely she would have heard something, seen something, been alerted to the fact that she was being watched."
"Mrs. Gerrard," Lynley said to her over his shoulder, "are you absolutely certain that Joy's door was locked last night?"
"Of course," she replied. "I thought of sending a note with her tea this morning, to tell her I'd taken the necklace back. Perhaps I really should have. But then-"
"And you did take the keys back to your desk?"
"Yes. Why do you keep asking me about the door?"
"And you locked the desk again?"
"Yes. I know I did that. It's something I always do."
Lynley turned from the table but remained next to it, his eyes on Francesca. "Can you tell me," he asked her, "how Helen Clyde came to be given a room adjoining Joy Sinclair's? Was that coincidental?"
Francesca's hand rose to her beads, an automatic movement, companion to thought. "Helen Clyde?" she repeated. "Was it Stuart who suggested...No. That's not right, is it? Mary Agnes took the call from London. I remember because Mary's spelling is a bit phonetic, and the name she'd written was unfamiliar. I had to get her to say it for me."
"The name?"
"Yes. She'd written down Joyce Encare, which of course made no sense until she said it. Joy Sinclair."
"Joy had telephoned you?"
"Yes. So I returned the call. This was...it must have been last Monday evening. She asked if Helen Clyde might have the room next to hers."
"Joy asked for Helen?" Lynley queried sharply. "Asked for her by name?"