Part 19 (2/2)

”Yes, sir. Nasty-like. Meaning to say his chance had come.”

”I wonder.”

”Well, that's what I heard, sir. Truly.”

Antony looked at her thoughtfully and nodded.

”Yes. I wonder. I wonder why.”

”Why what, sir?”

”Oh, lots of things, Elsie.... It was quite an accident your being outside just then?”

Elsie blushed. She had not forgotten what Mrs. Stevens had said about it.

”Quite, sir. In the general way I use the other stairs.”

”Of course.”

He had found his pipe and was about to go downstairs again when she stopped him.

”I beg your pardon, sir, but will there be an inquest?”

”Oh, yes. To-morrow, I think.”

”Shall I have to give my evidence, sir?”

”Of course. There's nothing to be frightened of.”

”I did hear it, sir. Truly.”

”Why, of course you did. Who says you didn't?”

”Some of the others, sir, Mrs. Stevens and all.”

”Oh, that's just because they're jealous,” said Antony with a smile.

He was glad to have spoken to her, because he had recognized at once the immense importance of her evidence. To the Inspector no doubt it had seemed only of importance in that it had shown Mark to have adopted something of a threatening att.i.tude towards his brother. To Antony it had much more significance. It was the only trustworthy evidence that Mark had been in the office at all that afternoon.

For who saw Mark go into the office? Only Cayley. And if Cayley had been hiding the truth about the keys, why should he not be hiding the truth about Mark's entry into the office? Obviously all Cayley's evidence went for nothing. Some of it no doubt was true; but he was giving it, both truth and falsehood, with a purpose. What the purpose was Antony did not know as yet; to s.h.i.+eld Mark, to s.h.i.+eld himself, even to betray Mark it might be any of these. But since his evidence was given for his own ends, it was impossible that it could be treated as the evidence of an impartial and trustworthy onlooker. Such, for instance, as Elsie appeared to be.

Elsie's evidence, however, seemed to settle the point. Mark had gone into the office to see his brother; Elsie had heard them both talking; and then Antony and Cayley had found the body of Robert.... and the Inspector was going to drag the pond.

But certainly Elsie's evidence did not prove anything more than the mere presence of Mark in the room. ”It's my turn now; you wait.” That was not an immediate threat;-it was a threat for the future. If Mark had shot his brother immediately afterwards it must have been an accident, the result of a struggle, say, provoked by that ”nasty-like” tone of voice. n.o.body would say ”You wait” to a man who was just going to be shot. ”You wait” meant ”You wait, and see what's going to happen to you later on.” The owner of the Red House had had enough of his brother's sponging, his brother's blackmail; now it was Mark's turn to get a bit of his own back. Let Robert just wait a bit, and he would see. The conversation which Elsie had overheard might have meant something like this. It couldn't have meant murder. Anyway not murder of Robert by Mark.

”It's a funny business,” thought Antony. ”The one obvious solution is so easy and yet so wrong. And I've got a hundred things in my head, and I can't fit them together. And this afternoon will make a hundred and one. I mustn't forget this afternoon.”

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