‘But you took her name?’ ‘Took her name? As far as I knew, somebody was drowning. What would you have done? Started taking down her name and address and date of birth?’ ‘All right, all right. I’m not criticising, just asking.’ ‘And I’m telling you. I’m a gardener, not a policeman, for goodness’ sake. I ran up here as fast as I could, which is what any normal person would have done. Not fast enough, though, right?’ He cast a cold eye on the green remains of a face. ‘Must have been in there a while. The fish did all right out of it, anyway. It’s an ill wind …’ The marshal took a deep breath and advised himself to be patient. ‘So that was all she said? That she thought somebody had fallen in the pool?’ ‘That’s right—no, she did say which pool, for what it’s worth. She said the one with the water hyacinths—that’s this stuff and there’s far too much of it, spreads like a weed but we’ve too much to do, so … There are a few pools and I’d never have thought to look up here, I mean, hardly anybody comes up here, why would they?’ ‘Two people did, apparently, if not three.’ ‘Three … ?’ That stopped him in his tracks.
