“Oh, I suppose so. Didn’t think of that. I must admit it did cross my mind that you might have arranged to do him in. After all, you were the one who talked about pushing him off the crag.” He paused, then asked, “You didn’t tell the police anything, did you?”

“I have nothing to tell them, Binky. I don’t know what happened. All I know is that you were there in the morning and when I came back in the afternoon there was a body in our bathtub and you had vanished. In fact, since I seem to be involved in this, whether I like it or not, I wouldn’t mind knowing the truth.”

“I’m completely in the dark myself, old bean,” he said.

“So you didn’t arrange to meet with de Mauxville at the house?”

“Certainly not. Actually, it was the rummest thing—my club telephoned to say that some chap wanted to meet me there, right away. I went to the club but nobody there seemed to have any interest in me at all. I came home, went upstairs, wondered where I had left my comb, wandered into the bathroom, and saw someone lying in the bathtub. I tried to get him out; got rather wet and realized he was dead. I also realized who he was and I might not be the brightest chap in the world, but I realized the ramifications.”

“So somebody lured you out of the house, brought de Mauxville there, and killed him,” I said.

“Must have done.”

“What did the person sound like?”

“I don’t know. A bit muffled actually. He said it was the club calling and I assumed it was one of the hall porters. They’ve only got half their teeth and they are not always easy to understand.”

“So it was an English voice?”

“What? Oh, definitely English, yes. Oh, I see. You’re saying that it wasn’t actually a club employee who called me. It was an imposter. What a perfectly despicable thing to do. So someone else must have wanted de Mauxville dead—but why arrange it at our house?”

“To implicate you, or us.”

“Who on earth would want to do that?” He stared out of the cab window as we waited on the corner of Baker Street. I looked across at the place where 221B should have been, and wished it had been real. A good detective was exactly what I needed at this moment.

“Do you think they’ve discovered the letter yet?” Binky asked in a small voice.

“I happen to have destroyed the original. It was the first thing I thought of. I went through his pockets, found it, and flushed it down the lav.”

“Georgie, you’re brilliant!”

“Not quite brilliant enough. I’d forgotten that our solicitors still have a copy and there may be other copies lying around.”