Commander Dalgliesh and Insp. Miskin continue their interviews with those associated with the case. Gordon Halliwell, the family chauffeur, came to the Berowne family after serving with the deceased Hugo in the army. He freely admits that he and Sir Paul didn't along. Barbara Berowne's brother Dominic Swayne has an alibi. Dalgliesh also questions him about the death of the Berowne family's servant, Diana Travers, who drowned. Swayne says she wasn't an unemployed actress as she claimed. Berowne's daughter Sarah didn't get on with her father and were estranged owing to political differences and the way he treated her mother. The pathologist won't rule out the possibility of suicide though he tells Dalgliesh it's most likely murder. Teresa Nolan the nurse who looked after Sir Paul's mother, admits to him that she had an abortion a few weeks before, but refuses to identify the father. She is later found dead, an apparent suicide.

—garykmcd

Berowne's daughter clearly has a secret that she has not shared with anyone except Ivor Garrett. Dalgliesh re-interviews Lady Berowne, Sir Paul's mother, and she lets it slip that he had a mistress. She is Carole Washburn who tells Dagliesh that Berowne had gone through a religious conversion. She refuses however to disclose anything else about their relationship other than they met at work and were always discreet. Dalgliesh visits the site where Diana Travers drowned and learns from the restaurant doorman, Henry, that Berowne was there the day of the drowning and was seen soaking wet. He also meets Millicent Gentle who, she says, was expecting him. Insp. Miskin meanwhile struggles with her own guilt over her grandmother who cannot live alone and who she wishes to put into a care home.

—garykmcd