He liked the way the girl's haunting green eyes sparkled out towards him, as she went to work on a mouthful of tasty food, and he liked to look at her shapely lips. Percy and Ingrid had never had a quarrel, and yet they had taken a lot of time to become extremely familiar with each other. Ingrid knew the times when it would be more helpful to be serious, and yet she was also perfectly capable of supplementing Percy's sense of humour with her own. She enjoyed a little mischief - or even a lot of it on occasions - and she never failed to coerce Percy into a conversation wherein the dialogue was as witty and intelligent as some of the Sneaky Spy's most memorable monologues.

"Percy, could we sit on the couch for a while? I think that my toes need a rest already."
"Will I still be able to stare at your eyes?"

"I was hoping that you might have a storehouse of sweet nothings to whisper in my ear."

"I thought of a few while we were dancing actually. Alright, let's sit down. Mind you, some of those sweet nothings have got a lot of something in them."
"Something from nothing, Percy?"

"You really are something," Percy said under his breath."
"Something?"

"Oh nothing."

They sat down.

"Oh yes, what are those sweet little nothings of yours?"

"Well seriously, just that I feel so..."

Percy's voice was now a whisper.

"....complete and happy when we're together."

"Thank you," said Ingrid.

"It's not just that.... Ingrid, I can't even see your ears while I keep kissing under your chin between sentences. Can you still hear the sweet nothings loud and clear?"

"Yes, but not too loud and too clear, please. We don't want everybody else in the room here with us to hear them as well."

She kissed his cheeks.

Percy looked again at her dress.

"You know that outfit makes you look absolutely regal."

"Percy, you have impeccable taste."
"Can I have your attention folks?" called Valtos.

Valtos had now admitted all of his guests for the evening, and was preparing a brief speech in his head.

"It's good to have you all here. I hope that you're all catching up on old times or meeting new friends for the first time. If you would like to fill your plate with turkey and ham, and any other trimmings you want from the other dishes; and then Anthony Skilton my butler will be around in due course to top up your glasses with pink champagne, unless you're a little squeamish like Percy."

"I wasn't expecting to be squeamish tonight, or did you do some of the cooking?" said Percy Dale with a mischievous look in his eyes.

The guests began to file around the table, collecting pieces of food with which to fill their plates, until Percy instinctively turned his head in the direction of a loud groan, immediately followed by a thumping crash.

Percy had no idea whether or not or how often Irwin Valtos fought with his wife. He did not

know what Alicia Valtos was currently doing as a means of employment. Nor did he know how she made such a delicious non-alcoholic punch. However, the Percy Dale who ran across the room to examine the fallen woman knew very soon, that Alicia Valtos would never fight with her husband. She would never return to her vocation. She would never make another drop of non-alcoholic punch, and she would certainly never live and breathe again.

"Irwin, she has died, and at a rough guess, I'd say it was caused by a fatal dose of poison."

Percy spoke softly and quietly, and yet his voice was audible to everyone else in the room, who now saw a different Percy Dale to the one who had so soon before been carrying on with Ingrid Castlecove on the couch.

"Yes. I'll just have to believe you, and take this in and cope with it."

"If you all wish to stay above suspicion," said Percy in a commanding tone, "Then I suggest that you stay here in the house. I will question the first person who tries to leave, whether they like it or not."

Percy, do you think it could have been that bikie?" asked Ingrid, "He might have followed us here for revenge."

"It's unlikely, after the state I left him in, and besides, you haven't let anyone like him into the house, have you?"

"I certainly haven't. I'd better call the police station," said Valtos.

"Which one?"

"Pymble. I usually do, when I need police assistance."

Percy did not deem it an appropriate moment to make a joke about the extent of a policeman's ability to provide assistance, despite his recollections of the bikie incident in his teenage years. He simply made a lightning decision to perform as many of his own investigations as possible, before the policeman or policemen arrived.

He waited for Irwin to replace the receiver.

"Irwin, I know you will be very upset now, and I cannot expect the others to feel much better, but would you mind if I ask a few people some questions?"

"You can do anything you consider suitable, Percy."

"Well I'll start with a general question to everybody. Did any of you know if any others had anything against Mrs Valtos?"

There were various murmurs and "no"s of differing tones.

Percy asked his next question with an introductory statement of fact.

"I'm fully convinced that Alicia Valtos was murdered. We cannot bring her back, but I'm sure Irwin would want to find out who did it and why. Now, does anyone here know any possible way that anyone would benefit from her death?"

"Well not meaning to be flippant, Sir," began Skilton, "but I would stand to inherit a large portion of their wills, if they both died. Master Valtos told me so himself once, but I would not do something like this, and I hope the master finds his man?"

"Who else inherits, Irwin?" asked the Sneaky Spy.

"Oh, we're leaving a bit to some distant cousins, but Anthony deserves most of it. He has been a reliable butler for years now."
"Where are your cousins now?" asked Percy.

"On a holiday overseas. I'm telling you, Percy, it couldn't have been them. They're not the sort of people who would do it themselves, and they certainly wouldn't arrange a murder either. What makes you convinced it was murder anyway?"

"Sorry, Irwin, but a revelation of that would give the whole show away to the real killers, if they're still around."

"And nobody's left. So do you mean that it must be somebody in this room right here?" asked Irwin.

"I'm not sure yet."

"Why are you playing detective anyway?" asked a portly fellow who had not removed his top hat since he had entered the house.

Percy was actually lost for words, but only for a second.

However, it was Ingrid who answered first.

"Because he's good at it, and he cares about Irwin."

"Well yes, more or less," affirmed the Sneaky Spy, wondering who would visit the house in a blue uniform shortly afterwards.

"Oh come on, I'm tired and I want to go to bed, and it wasn't me anyway. If we're not having dinner now, I'd prefer to go," said another guest.

"You can go upstairs and sleep on Irwin's bed," suggested Ingrid, and Percy moved towards the man to steer and propel him rapidly towards the staircase.

"Think you're smart, I suppose," said the man.

"Janis, please just go," said Irwin, "Make it easier for me, will you please?"'

Janis ascended the stairs without another word, and Percy turned to Valtos.

"Irwin, he's gone up now, so you can tell me freely," said the Sneaky Spy, "Do you think he would have any reason to want to kill your wife?"

"None at all. I mean, he's a selfish sort of a fool, but only in a relatively harmless kind of a way. He'd never kill somebody. It's just not in his nature."

"Do you know enough about your wife's medical condition? If she had any history of weak heart signs, it might account for her fainting and dying unexpectedly like that?"

Percy waited for the answer.

As he waited, he noticed an empty medicine glass sitting on one of the tables.

"No. No weak heart signs at all. The only thing she did have was a terrible pain in her throat. The doctor has given her a week's supply of medicine to drink. Anthony gives it to her just before dinner every day. If that doctor's prescribed the wrong medicine and killed her by accident, I swear I'll-"

"It wasn't your doctor, Irwin, and I'll tell you something else."

"You don't think it was an accident."

"Killing a woman by poisoning her medicine never is. Wouldn't you agree with me on that one, Skilton? After all, most doctors don't make mistakes like that, do they?"

"No they don't, Sir, but I swear I did nothing to her medicine. The doctor gave her the bottle, and it was then included in my duties to pour out the correct amount and give it to her each day, just before dinner."

"Well I'm telling you now, Irwin. In fact, I'm telling you all, that when Pymble's finest forensic fellows wander in here and start looking at Mrs Alicia Valtos, they're not going to find a bullet - not even one that could have been fired from a gun with a silencer while we all chatted loudly on the dance floor. They're going to find a girl with poison in her medicine. I'm not definitely accusing Skilton or anyone else yet, but I'm going to find out who did it, and I'll take the person or people to court for it. Now Skilton, I will not say that I suspect you. I will say, however, that I think that you - in a situation like this - are the obvious suspect. Did you give Mrs Valtos the exact amount prescribed by the doctor tonight?"

"Yes Sir, I did. I never get it wrong."

"Of course you don't, but do you ever leave the bottle with the lid off for any length of time? Do you ever leave it in an unhealthy place? Do you ever take it into unsanitary places? Do you scrupulously wash your hands every time you plan to touch the bottle? As I said, you are the obvious suspect. I believe in the philosophy of innocent until proven guilty myself, but it doesn't look too good for you. Still, I won't give up trying to find out what did really happen."

"No, I suppose it doesn't look good for me," said Skilton.