11.30 Geoffrey Billington-Smith left the house.
11.45 The General and Mrs. Halliday returned to the house. Lady Billington-Smith called downstairs; Mrs. Halliday upstairs to her room.
11.50 Lady Billington-Smith into the garden-hall.the General into his study.
?11. 55 Mrs. Halliday on to terrace. Halliday upstairs to their room.
12.5 Halliday's voice heard in study.
12.10 Arrival of Mrs. Twining. No sound from study.
? 12.10-12.15 Mrs. Twining in hall.
? 12.15 Mrs. Twining on to terrace.
12.20 Lady Billington-Smith on to terrace from kitchen-garden. Mrs. Chudleigh on to terrace from house.
12.25 Halliday on to terrace from billiard-room.
? 12.27 Guest left terrace.
12.30 Departure of Mrs. Chudleigh by way of garden path.
12.35 Butler on to terrace with cocktails.
? 12.40 Guest back on to terrace.
? 12.55 Mrs. Twining to the study.
? 1.0 Mrs. Twining back on to terrace.
"You've got a lot of queries," said the Superintendent having mastered the time-table.
"They occur where I've had to guess at the exact time. My figures ought not to be more than a minute or two either way."
"Well, I daresay it's all very nice," said the Superintendent disparagingly. "Not that it leads us anywhere.
"I think it may," replied Harding. "Let us take Lady Billington-Smith first. If you glance at the time-table you'll see that from eleven-fifty till a few minutes before twelve-twenty when she interviewed the gardener, her movements are not accounted for. But at twelve-five Halliday admits to having been in the study, and from twelve-ten to about twelve-fifteen Mrs. Twining was in the hall, and heard no one in the study. That leaves only five minutes for Lady Billington-Smith to murder Sir Arthur, and reach the kitchen-garden at the other side of the house."
"That's as may be," said the Superintendent. "But supposing she did it before twelve-five? What about that?"
Harding looked up. "You are forgetting that Halliday saw the General at twelve-five alive."
The Superintendent, who never felt at his best so early in the day, glared at the Sergeant, and said: "You've only got his word for that, Mr. Harding."
Evidently Harding did not consider it worth while to argue this point, for he passed on to his next suspect. "Now we come to Halliday," he said. "Somewhere round about twelve he entered the study, to give back the cheque presented to his wife. Has the Sergeant told you of that?"
"Yes, Mr. Harding, he has, and to my way of thinking that's our man. If you remember, I said so right from the start."
"I agree with you that a great deal of the evidence points to him. Yet I'm not entirely satisfied. The motive is there, and so is the opportunity. I should say that he is very hot-tempered. I could easily believe in a violent quarrel between him and Sir Arthur, culminating in that blow with the nearest weapon to hand, if it were not for just one thing. On top of the fragments of the cheque in the waste-paper basket were quite a number of other papers. If Halliday committed the murder you would expect to find the cheque uppermost."
Some shadow of emotion crossed the Sergeant's face. "I ought to have thought of that," he said sorrowfully. He stroked his moustache, pondering the question. "You could account for it, sir," he pronounced at length "Supposing it was Mr. Halliday himself who threw them other papers into the basket?"
"I have considered that point," admitted Harding. "It seems to me possible but unlikely. One can argue, of course, that if Halliday had the presence of mind to wipe any finger-prints off the hilt of the dagger he would have had enough presence of mind to throw papers in to the basket on top of the torn cheque. Yet wouldn't it have been a simple matter to have gathered up the pieces of the cheque, and taken them away with him?"
"There is that, of course," conceded the Sergeant, and stroked his moustache anew.
"Similarly, it is possible that during the quarrel with Halliday, Sir Arthur continued to tear up letters and throw them into the basket."
"Yes, that's so," reflected the Sergeant. "What's more he might easily have done so, wanting to get rid of Mr. Halliday."
"To my mind," struck in the Superintendent, "we've got a case against Halliday."
"I should hate to arrest him on this evidence," said Harding. "Admitted that there are strong grounds for suspicion, let us take a look at Stephen Guest. On his own showing he left the terrace somewhere between twelve-twenty-five when Halliday appeared, and twelve thirty when Mrs. Chudleigh departed. He says that he was in the house for ten minutes, and possibly alone .When he returned to the terrace attention was called to a blood-stain on his shirt-cuff, for which he accounted by saying that he had cut his hand opening a tin of tobacco."
"I must say, sir, when I heard him give his evidence I suspicioned him strongly," said the Sergeant. "But, come to think of it, that was the effect they all of 'em had on me. It's a nasty-looking case against Mr. Guest, though — seeing as he's in love with her ladyship."
"It is a nasty-looking case," agreed Harding. "And, as I think you said at the time, he's a tough customer. Given two important facts: one, that he loves Lady Billington-Smith; and two, that she wouldn't consent to divorce, things begin to point to him. We have to consider the man himself too. I don't know what impression he made on you, Sergeant — or on you, Superintendent — but he seemed to me a man who knows what he wants, and gets it. He's a strong man, possibly a ruthless one, and certainly which make it difficult for us — a very deliberate one. If he committed the murder I am convinced that it was not done in the heat of the moment, but was carefully planned — and we're going to have the devil of a job — lacking further evidence — to bring it home to him."
"Personally," said the Superintendent, "I hold to that Halliday."
"You may be right. There are points against it being Guest. To murder a woman's husband (and, incidentally, your host) with the object of marrying her yourself argues an abnormal degree of cold-bloodedness. To stab him in the back isn't a thing you'd expect a man of Guest's type to do. Further, if he committed the murder he did it between twelve-twenty-seven and twelve-forty. Now I have been to see Mrs. Chudleigh, and although she is most annoyed at the suggestion that she would have looked at the study window I am fairly certain that there can have been no one in the room with the General when she passed. Had there been she must have noticed And, more significant still, the weapon used was the General's own paper-knife, which was always kept in the study, on the desk. That circumstance leads one to suppose that the murder was quite unpremeditated, the knife being snatched up through impulse. At the sane time we've got to remember that Guest, who was connection of Sir Arthur's, frequently stayed in the house, and may easily have known that the dagger was always to be found on the General's desk, and used it deliberately."
"Look here, Mr. Harding," said the Superintendent. affronted. "Seems to me you're arguing away every bit of evidence you find! How are we going to get on if that's what you do?"
"I see you've reached the same conclusion I have," said Harding with not the veriest flicker of a smile. "Following up these suspects is leading us precisely nowhere."
"Eh?" ejaculated the Superintendent, consideralby startled.
"What about Mr. Geoffrey, sir?" asked the Sergeant.
"Still more hopeless. We know he left the house at eleven-thirty and returned considerably after one. According to his tale, he went for a long walk. He must have done so, or he may have slipped back to the house and murdered Sir Arthur. With a youth of his type it's almost impossible to say what he might or might not do. In a rage he might be capable of anything. I would suggest, Superintendent, that you have a few inquiries made. I want to know whether anyone saw Mr. Billington-Smith between eleven-thirty and one on Monday, and if so where, and at what time. I jotted down the route he said he took." He hunted in his dispatch-case, and handed over a slip of paper. "And at the same time, I should very much like to find out whether Captain Billington-Smith was seen in the neighbourhood at any time that morning."