Part 16 (1/2)
”No, that's rather hopeless, isn't it?” Bill thought again. ”Well,” he said reluctantly, ”suppose Mark confessed that he'd murdered his brother?”
”That's better, Bill. Don't be afraid of getting away from the accident idea. Well then, your new theory is this. Mark confesses to Cayley that he shot Robert on purpose, and Cayley decides, even at the risk of committing perjury, and getting into trouble himself, to help Mark to escape. Is that right?”
Bill nodded.
”Well then, I want to ask you two questions. First, is it possible, as I said before dinner, that any man would commit such an idiotic murder-a murder that puts the rope so very tightly round his neck? Secondly, if Cayley is prepared to perjure himself for Mark (as he has to, anyway, now), wouldn't it be simpler for him to say that he was in the office all the time, and that Robert's death was accidental?”
Bill considered this carefully, and then nodded slowly again.
”Yes, my simple explanation is a wash-out,” he said. ”Now let's have yours.”
Antony did not answer him. He had begun to think about something quite different.
CHAPTER IX. Possibilities of a Croquet Set
”What's the matter?” said Bill sharply.
Antony looked round at him with raised eyebrows.
”You've thought of something suddenly,” said Bill. ”What is it?”
Antony laughed.
”My dear Watson,” he said, ”you aren't supposed to be as clever as this.”
”Oh, you can't take me in!”
”No.... Well, I was wondering about this ghost of yours, Bill. It seems to me-”
”Oh, that!” Bill was profoundly disappointed. ”What on earth has the ghost got to do with it?”
”I don't know,” said Antony apologetically. ”I don't know what anything has got to do with it. I was just wondering. You shouldn't have brought me here if you hadn't wanted me to think about the ghost. This is where she appeared, isn't it?”
”Yes.” Bill was distinctly short about it.
”How?”
”What?”
”I said, 'How?'”
”How? How do ghosts appear? I don't know. They just appear.”
”Over four or five hundred yards of open park?”
”Well, but she had to appear here, because this is where the original one-Lady Anne, you know-was supposed to walk.”
”Oh, never mind Lady Anne! A real ghost can do anything. But how did Miss Norris appear suddenly over five hundred yards of bare park?”