I suppose you heard how I left?”
“I have heard that you left abruptly, but I know nothing of the circumstances, nor am I particularly concerned to enquire. I am merely asking you to give assistance, which is the duty of every citizen under such circumstances.”
Mr. Redwin made no answer to this. He went on with his meal as though he had not heard. The Inspector felt that it might be polite to add: “I need scarcely say that there is no suggestion that you had any complicity in the matter. If I ask your help, I am not therefore suggesting—”
Mr. Redwin interrupted him abruptly: “No, you couldn’t.” It seemed for a moment that he proposed to terminate the conversation with that curt interjection; but he went on: “Though it’s no thanks to you that I’m not in jail now. Do you think I don’t know how everyone’s been badgered to say they’re not sure I was here? If I’d happened to have been out walking that afternoon, you’d have moved all heaven and hell to find some pretext to run me in.”
There was a tone of mingled anger and contempt in this speech which made it evident that there would be no willing help from Mr. Redwin unless he could be brought to a different mood.
The Inspector was not in the habit of making outside reflections upon the local police whom he might be called in to assist, but he felt that the position justified him in remarking: “I’m sorry if anything’s been allowed to happen which you have good ground to resent. I only came down yesterday afternoon.”
“Well, it wasn’t any too soon.” The words were ungracious, but the tone was somewhat friendlier than before, and encouraged the Inspector to a further approach: “It must have been a shock to you when you heard of his death?”
“I couldn’t say I was over surprised.”
“Do you mean you had any reason to expect such an event?”
“No, I wouldn’t say that. But I might have made the right guess.”
“Do you mean you had reason to think that he’d shoot himself after you’d gone?”
“No, why should he?”
“You don’t think it was suicide?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Do you mean you had reason to suspect that he might be murdered?”
Mr. Redwin seemed about to reply, and then pulled himself up, as though wondering whether he might be saying too much.
“Inspector,” he said, after a time, “you’re asking me a good many questions. Do you mind if I ask you one for a change?”
“Not at all. Of course, I can’t promise to answer till I’ve heard what it is.”
“Well, that’s how I feel about yours. But what I’d like to know is whether there’s any law against slandering people to the police, because if so I’d rather not say any more. I’ve had trouble enough.”
“If you’ve any honest suspicion that you can’t prove, you can tell it to me in full confidence that I shall not let it go further until it’s been properly verified and confirmed. And if you’ve got such a suspicion, I need scarcely say that it’s your duty to speak.”
“Well, I suppose that’s what you’d be expected to say. But I’m not so sure. They might say it was malice, coming from me, and I don’t know where it might end. A man can have thoughts that he doesn’t speak. Not that I ever heard, anyway. I think I’ll just sit back and watch how the game goes.”
Inspector Pinkey controlled a natural irritation to say quietly: “I don’t think we can leave it there, Mr. Redwin. It seems to me that you’ve said too little, or else too much.
“I’ve told you that I’m sorry if you’ve been annoyed by any enquiries that the police felt it their duty to make, but you must see, if you look at it fairly, that you brought it more or less on yourself. Unless people are saying things about you now that are not true, you had made threats in public places against Sir Daniel that brought suspicion on you inevitably when he was found shot as he was.
“I’ve told you that we’re not accusing you, as we know you were here at the time, but if things stand as they do now when the inquest’s resumed, there may be evidence that these threats were made, and there’ll be a vague suspicion against yourself that you’ll find it hard to shake off. I suppose you know how people talk, without troubling to get the facts straight. And if that kind of talk once begins, it gets worse as the years go on.
“It seems to me that you’ve got more interest than most in getting it properly cleared up, and the truth proved, whatever it may turn out to be.”
Mr. Redwin listened to this argument with an expressionless face. Then a slight smile of derision came to his lips as he asked: “And you want to make me believe that you can’t see through it without my help? Well, you may be right about that. But I don’t know—”
The sentence stopped abruptly as a bucolic couple, delayed at the local cattle market, noisily and hastily entered the room.
The Inspector cursed inwardly, and then considered that there might be no loss on either side if there should be an interval for reflection on that which had been said already.
He rose and called for his bill.
“Well,” he said, with as much geniality as he felt able to show, “you might think it over, and we’ll have another chat later.”
He held out a hand, which was somewhat reluctantly taken, and went out to face the two-mile walk back to the police station. He felt that he would be glad of the quiet opportunity of reviewing a suggestive and yet rather baffling conversation. And after that he would have another talk with Trackfield. He saw that he was not likely to go back tomorrow. There was more in this than appeared. It was unfortunate that he could form no opinion as to what it might be.
CHAPTER VII.
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you since before lunch,” Superintendent Trackfield began, as Inspector Pinkey entered his office, and before he could commence the narrative of his own experiences. “I had Forbes and Fisher on the phone just before noon. They wanted to know when the adjourned inquest would be likely to be held, or if there were any other developments in connection with Sir Daniel’s death. They seemed to want to know more than they liked to ask, and when I told them that you were down here, and had the case in hand, they were anxious to speak to you, if possible, before three o’clock, when they have an appointment with another solicitor, who’s arriving here from London on the two-fifty.”
“Any idea what it’s about?”
“I asked that, of course. I told them that we should be more likely to be able to help them if we knew why the information was required. They were very guarded in their reply, but I gathered that it is some financial question regarding Sir Daniel’s estate. I didn’t press it beyond that, as I felt the matter was in your hands. I rang up Bywater Grange, and learned that you were staying there over tonight, but that they weren’t expecting you back until late, so I thought you’d be likely to look in here before long. I promised Fisher I’d ring him up again at two-thirty, and let him know if I’d been able to get in touch with you.”
“What did you say the name of the firm is?”
“Forbes
