Before she could answer, Sally cut in. "In common with the butcher, the baker, the milkman, all the servants, the postman, and the paper-boy."
He looked at her appraisingly, but did not answer, merely inclining his head slightly.
"News gets round so frightfully quickly in the suburbs," Helen said, again with her uneasy, artificial laugh.
"Yes," he agreed. "I expect it does. When did you last see Mr. Fletcher, Mrs. North?"
"What's your reason for asking that question?" demanded Sally.
"I am investigating a murder, Miss -'
"I'm Sally Drew. You can hardly think that my sister knows anything about a murder."
"I'm quite ready to believe that she doesn't," he replied, with a good-humoured inflexion in his voice which surprised her. "But I have a reason for asking Mrs. North certain questions, and a right to do so."
"Oh, of course!" Helen said quickly. "Only it's rather difficult to say when I saw Ernie Fletcher last. Let me see now… it was probably in town. Oh yes, we were both at a party last week!"
"Are you quite sure that you haven't seen him since then?"
He kept his eyes on her face, taking note of the fluctuating colour in her cheeks, the frightened, wary look in her eyes that told plainly of indecision.
"Why, no, I - I don't think so!"
"You did not, by any chance, see him last night?"
"Last night?" Helen repeated. "Of course not! Whatever made you think I might have?"
"I have reason to think that some woman visited him yesterday evening."
"Good gracious, why should it be me, I wonder!"
He said in his quiet way: "Please don't misunderstand me, Mrs. North. I am quite prepared to find that the woman was not you. Indeed, I'm sorry to be obliged to worry you with these questions. But I'm sure you'll realise that the presence of a woman at Greystones last night must be investigated, for it is just possible that she, whoever she is, may be able to throw a little light on the murder."
"How?" she said quickly.
"She may, quite unwittingly, have seen the murderer."
"Oh!" she exclaimed, shuddering. "But it's preposterous to suppose that I-'
He interrupted, saying in a matter-of-fact way: "Well, Mrs. North, the question can be settled quite easily. What size in shoes do you wear?"
A quiver ran over her face; she threw a glance towards her sister, who stepped promptly into the breach. "Five-and-a-half, don't you, like me?"
"Yes," she admitted. "Yes, I do. I think most women of our height do."
"Thank you," said Hannasyde. "I wondered if you would lend me the shoes you were wearing last night?"
"Lend you my shoes! Really, Superintcüdrut, that is quite impossible!"
"Why, Mrs. North?"
"Well, you must see - Oh, this is idiotic! I had nothing to do with Ernie Fletcher's death!"
"Then you can have no possible objection to lending me your shoes for half-an-hour," said Hannasyde.
"Of course she hasn't," said Sally. "What's more, you shall have mine as well. I knew Ernest Fletcher too, so presumably there is just as much reason to suspect me of having been at Greystones last night as my sister."
"Not quite," he replied.
Helen sat down suddenly on the sofa. "I can't stand this!" she said in a choking voice. "There's no reason why you should come and badger me! Simply because I happened to know Ernie Fletcher -'
"Not entirely," he said. "Are not these yours, Mrs. North?"
She looked at the slips of paper which he had taken from his pocket-book. The colour rushed into her face, but some of her strained rigidity left her. "Yes. They're mine," she answered. "What of it?"
"They call for some kind of explanation, as I think you'll agree," he said. "Did you owe these various sums of money to Mr. Fletcher?"
"No. That is, not in the way you seem to think. He bought up those debts, to get me out of a - a hole, and I was - I was repaying him bit by bit." She glanced up fleetingly, and added, twisting her handkerchief between her fingers: "I did not wish my - my husband to know. He - I - oh, this is impossible!"
"I quite appreciate your reluctance to discuss your affairs, Mrs. North. It may make it easier for you to be frank with me if you can bring yourself to believe that except in so far as they may relate to the case I am at work on I have no interest in them, and certainly no desire to create any unnecessary - er - scandal."
"There's nothing to make a scandal about!" she said. "Mr. Fletcher was just a friend. The whole arrangement was perfectly amicable. I don't know what you are imagining, but -'
"You can put an end to any imaginings of mine by being open with me, Mrs. North. I have told you that I appreciate your point of view, but you must see that the discovery of these notes of yours in Ernest Fletcher's safe is a circumstance which must be fully inquired into. If you can satisfy me that you did not visit Greystones last night I shall have no further need to worry you with interrogations which you must naturally find unpleasant. But if you can bring no proof forward in support of your denial, and persist in refusing to let me compare your shoes with the footprints we have found in the garden at Greystones, I can have no alternative to pursuing my inquiries further. In which event, I fear there will be little hope of your evading the sort of publicity you must wish to avoid."
Sally got up from her seat by the table, and walked forward. "That," she said, "sounds remarkably like a threat, Superintendent."
"I expect it does," he agreed equably. "It isn't, though. I am only trying to point out to your sister that her wisest course is to be entirely frank with me. If I have to question her servants as to her whereabouts last night -'
"I get it," said Sally, grimacing. She took a cigarette from the box on the table, and fitted it into her holder. She glanced speculatively at Hannasyde, and took a lighter from her pocket. The little flame spurted up; she lit her cigarette, once more looked at Hannasyde, and then said tersely: "He's right, Helen. And what he says about having no interest in your affairs is true. He's got nothing on you, but obviously you've got to be eliminated."
Helen looked frightened, but after a pause said: "I did call on Ernie Fletcher last night. I've explained that he was a - a great friend, though years older than me. I looked on him as a sort of uncle."
"Quite," said Hannasyde. "Had you any particular purpose in paying this call?"
"No, not exactly. My sister was busy, and I was bored. It was quite early, and I thought I'd just look in on Ernie."
In spite of herself she coloured, but Hannasyde merely asked: "At what hour did you arrive at Greystones?"
"It must have been at about five-and-twenty to ten. I know I left this house at half-past nine."
"Just tell me everything that happened, Mrs. North."
"Really, there's so little to tell. I went by way of the Arden Road, because for one thing it's quicker than going all the way up this road, and along Vale Avenue, andd for another - I expect this seems odd to you, but it isn't really - I didn't much want to see Miss Fletcher, so I thought I'd go in by the garden-entrance, on the chance of finding Ern - Mr. Fletcher in his study." She broke off, and exclaimed wretchedly: "Oh, this is too impossible! It sounds as though I had some horrid assignation! But I hadn't, I hadn't!"
"Don't go over at the knees," recommended her sister. "It's obvious you hadn't, or you'd have thought up some convincing reason for calling on Ernie."
"Oh, don't! Do you suppose I can't see what a false impression anyone must get, not - not knowing the terms I was on with Ernie?"
"The only impression the Superintendent's got is that you're a paralytic ass," responded Sally cheerfully. "Why you chose to enter by the garden-gate has got nothing to do with him, so get on with your story!"
"I don't know where I was. Oh yes! Well, Mr. Fletcher was in his study - oh, I forgot to tell you that I saw a man coming out of the gate, just as I turned up into Maple Grove. I - I don't know whether that's any use to you?"