“I wonder if there wasn’t more behind that,” Darcy said. “Either he wanted an excuse to get rid of this man, or there was something among those papers that Cedric didn’t want anybody to see.”

“Oh,” I said. “I never thought of that. So maybe there is a motive for his murder that might be quite unconnected to the people in this house. He might have been involved in something underhanded—blackmail or something.”

Darcy nodded.

“There’s something else,” I said. “William was angry because his parents live in one of the cottages that Cedric was planning to tear down to make room for his theater project. That would give him an awfully good double motive, wouldn’t it?” I looked at them, quite excited now. “What if he came to confront Cedric, and as he approached the front door he heard Cedric saying he was going down to post a letter? So this man decides to cut around and confront Cedric in the glen instead—out of sight of the house.”

“But how did he get Jack’s knife? How would he even have known about it?” Sissy asked.

“Ah,” I said. “Perhaps he’d been in the tack room before.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “Look, Sissy, this evidence might just clear Jack—and that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Then let’s go straight to Cedric’s study and tell the chief inspector.”

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Chief Inspector Fairbotham listened carefully to Sissy and then to me.

“You don’t say,” he said, then sucked through his teeth. “I suppose this is all true, not made up to shift our focus from the young Australian gentleman?”

“It’s true,” Sissy said. “I did see him, but unfortunately it was too early to have encountered the duke if he really left the house around eight.”

“Unless this man then cut across the estate lower down and waited for the duke to come through the glen,” I pointed out.

The inspector nodded. “And he does have a compelling motive as you say—first the duke sacks him and then wants to throw his folks out of their cottage. Any idea of his name?”

“William, I believe,” I said. “The servants here will know. Also where he might be found. At least you can go to his parents’ house. They’ll know.”

“I’m going to wait until we’ve found out whose prints are on that knife,” he said. “And do what the young chap says and take a good look at footprints in the glen. Thank you. You’ve been most helpful. And if you see anything else interesting from your window, young lady . . .”

“I’ll tell you straight away,” Sissy said. Her cheeks were very pink, but she looked more excited than embarrassed.

We wheeled her in to luncheon. Edwina and the others were already at the table. Jack was nowhere to be seen.