Part 16 (2/2)
”Ah! Cricket bags? Put it down, Pillingshot. That's a clue. Work on it. Where are they?”
”They've gone to the wash.”
”About time, too. I noticed them. How do you know the quid didn't go to the wash as well?”
”I turned both the pockets inside out.”
”Any hole in the pocket?”
”No.”
”Well, when did you take off the bags? Did you sleep in them?”
”I wore 'em till bed-time, and then shoved them on a chair by the side of the bed. It wasn't till next morning that I remembered the quid was in them----”
”But it wasn't,” objected Scott.
”I thought it was. It ought to have been.”
”He thought it was. That's a clue, young Pillingshot. Work on it.
Well?”
”Well, when I went to take the quid out of my cricket bags, it wasn't there.”
”What time was that?”
”Half-past seven this morning.”
”What time did you go to bed?”
”Ten.”
”Then the theft occurred between the hours of ten and seven-thirty.
Mind you, I'm giving you a jolly good leg-up, young Pillingshot. But as it's your first case I don't mind. That'll be all from you, Evans.
Pop off.”
Evans disappeared. Scott turned to the detective.
”Well, young Pillingshot,” he said, ”what do you make of it?”
”I don't know.”
”What steps do you propose to take?”
”I don't know.”
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