Colonel Anstruther said “Perhaps-” in a doubtful tone. “Then you believe Lady Colesborough’s story? You believe she was meeting this associate of her husband’s, and that it was he who shot Sir Francis?”
“We had better continue to call him Mr. Zero. Yes, I think so. I think he was engaged in double-crossing his chief. He had induced Lady Colesborough to open her husband’s safe and abstract a packet of letters.”
“That is if you accept her story,” said Colonel Anstruther. “We have only her word for all that. I’m not at all convinced that there was anyone else present when Colesborough was shot. Hang it all, she had the pistol in her hand. You can’t rule out the possibility that she shot him herself.”
“With what motive?” Mr. Brook’s tone was rather dry.
“One that you’ve supplied yourself. It’s your own suggestion that Sir Francis was Mr. Zero. Lady Colesborough goes to her assignation, taking the pistol with her, and shoots the man who is frightening her. She may have recognized him or she may not. She may have shot in a hurry and only discovered afterwards that she had killed her husband.”
Mr. Brook shook his head.
“I do not think so. I cannot believe that her assignation was with Sir Francis, first because I am quite sure that he would not have risked such a meeting and could have had no possible motive for it, and next because of the unfinished letter. If he had been planning to go out he would either have finished the letter first or put off writing it until afterwards.”
Colonel Anstruther received this with scepticism.
“There may be something that we don’t know about-unknown factor-there very often is. You make your theory, and something comes along and upsets it. To my mind it’s a perfectly plain case as far as the murder is concerned. The unknown factor is that we don’t know what Lady Colesborough was up to. She may have been meeting someone or she may not, but I think Colesborough caught her out, and I think she shot him with his own pistol. The butler’s evidence is that he kept it in an unlocked drawer, so she could have got it if she wanted to. And I say she did get it and she did shoot him. And there isn’t a particle of evidence except her own to show that there was any other man there at the time-not a particle. And if Miss Hardwicke hadn’t gone out of her way to wipe the pistol, we should have had a cast-iron case.”
“Well,” said Mr. Brook, “I don’t agree with you about there being no evidence, because it’s an undisputed fact that Mr. Somers was, if not there, at least very near at the time that the shot was fired. He says he was on the edge of the lawn at the point where the path comes out when he heard the shot. We have only his own word for that. He may have been nearer-he may have been very much nearer indeed.”
Inspector Boyce’s chair creaked as he shifted his weight. Colonel Anstruther said “Bless my soul!” in an extremely startled voice.
“You see,” said Mr. Brook, “we have to consider what we know about Mr. Zero. I believe Lady Colesborough was telling the truth when she described the various telephone conversations and the interview she had with him in the yew walk. At this interview, more than twelve hours before the report which was afterwards stolen had reached Mr. Lushington, Mr. Zero was making his plans for having it stolen. He knew what it was and when it would be delivered.”
“He couldn’t have known that Mr. Lushington would take it down to Wellings.”
“Consider what he did know, Colonel Anstruther. He knew that Mr. Lushington was going away. He knew that the report would be delivered to him before he went. I think we may assume that he knew Mr. Lushington was in the habit of taking papers away with him. In any case, the last instructions were given to Lady Colesborough by telephone at five o’clock on the Saturday afternoon, some hours after Mr. Lushington had left for Wellings with the report in his possession. It is quite certain that Mr. Zero knew this. Now, in looking for Mr. Zero, we have to look for someone who was in a position to know all these things. Mr. Somers is in such a position. He is a member of Mr. Lushington’s staff and also of his family. He knew that the report was expected. He actually handled it and conveyed it to Mr. Lushington. He had been under suspicion from the first, but at that time it was considered rather more than probable that the theft had taken place before Mr. Lushington left town. Mr. Somers had the opportunity of substituting the dummy envelope which was found when Mr. Lushington opened his despatch-case. In fact, Mr. Somers fills the bill very neatly. Perhaps he fills it a little too neatly-I don’t know. Mr. Lushington has complete confidence in him, but it is certain that Mr. Somers knew about the visit to Wellings, that he knew about the report, and that he knew the report had been taken to Wellings. He could very easily have rung Lady Colesborough up. There remains the damning fact that the man who knew these things was here in the grounds of Cole Lester at the hour of Lady Colesborough’s appointment with Mr. Zero, and at the moment when Sir Francis Colesborough was shot.”
“Bless my soul!” said Colonel Anstruther in a tone of dismay.
Mr. Brook got up and pressed the bell.
“I think we must ask Mr. Somers to explain himself,” he said.
XXIV
Algy Somers came into the room, and found it hostile. Colonel Anstruther, grey of hair and red of face, was standing with his back to the fire. Inspector Boyce sat stiffly at the writing-table. Mr. Brook, whom he knew by sight, looked up from a notebook and then down again. It was borne in upon Algy that he was here not only to be questioned, but also to show good reason why the suspicions of the occasion should not be focussed upon his person. It was a very disquieting impression. Colonel Anstruther’s cold stare and Mr. Brook’s detachment did nothing to modify it. He could hardly sit while Colonel Anstruther remained standing, yet this position intensified the suggestion that he was in some sort a prisoner at the bar.
The Chief Constable opened the proceedings.
“I should be glad if you would repeat your account of what happened last night, Mr. Somers.”
“I have made a statement in writing, sir.” Algy’s tone was quiet and pleasant.
“You wish to adhere to that in every respect? Nothing you’d like to add to it?”
“Nothing that I can think of, but if there are any questions you would like to ask-”
Colonel Anstruther looked past him.
“Mr. Somers’ statement, Boyce.”
The Inspector brought it over and went back to his seat. Colonel Anstruther frowned at the typewritten page.
“You say, Mr. Somers, that Miss Hardwicke asked you to drive her down to Cole Lester. When was this?”
“Well, I was having a bath when she rang up-I suppose it was about seven o’clock. By the way, she didn’t ask me to drive her to Cole Lester, she asked me to lend her my car. I wouldn’t do that, but I offered to drive her, and she stipulated that I shouldn’t ask where we were going.”
“And when did you find out?” There was a sneering tone in Colonel Anstruther’s voice.
A young man with political aspirations must learn to keep his temper. Algy kept his. He said,
“When Miss Hardwicke told me to make for a village called Colebrook, I guessed at once that she was going to Cole Lester to see her cousin.”
“And you want us to believe that you asked no questions?”
“I had promised not to, sir.”
“Perhaps you were going down to Cole Lester in any case?”
Algy allowed himself to be surprised.
“Oh, no, sir. My acquaintance with Lady Colesborough is very slight.”
“Have you ever talked to her on the telephone?”
“Certainly not.”
Mr. Brook looked up.
“Did Miss Hardwicke give you any explanation of why she was going down to see her cousin in the middle of the night?”
“No, she didn’t tell me anything.”
“But you had your own ideas on the subject. Do you mind telling us what they were?”