Drowned rat.

It was the first really nice day of the summer. The strawberries were ripe and Irene Cable was having a few friends over for cocktails in the garden.

It happened so fast--the cry, the splash, the flailing of strong arms across the still water to what lay sprawled in the pool under the shade of the chestnuts--that Catherine Gifford afterwards was never certain what she had seen under those trees.

It was Andie Manson who dived into the pool and emerged with the limp body of Douglas Cable. Douglas couldn't remember what had happened, and it appeared that he had been hit on the head before he fell into the pool. Attempted murder in this quiet country village? Unheard of.

But, soon after, another body is found in the pool--very, very dead, and most definitely murdered.