What emotions were in Emming’s breast when the Inspector, in plain clothes, and a police-sergeant, in uniform, presented themselves at his lodgings and requested him to accompany them on a walk, Mrs Bradley could only guess. She was not privileged – having no official standing – to be a member of the party, but weight was added by the inclusion of Mansell (whose dig it was) and Jonathan, representing Miss Hughes, for the dig was on College territory.

Jonathan retailed the facts as soon as he returned to the manor house. At the first mention of the typewriter Emming had turned insolent. He declined to give information of anything he had buried in the dig, and challenged the police to find the machine, and, if they found it, to relate it in any way to him.

Upon this, the sergeant and Mansell, watched by Jonathan and the Inspector, had begun the work of re-digging the filled-in end of the trench. The typewriter was soon discovered, but Emming denied all knowledge of it. This, in the event of its discovery, had been anticipated, and the next move of the police had been to charge him with the dissemination of the objectionable letters. He denied the charge.

‘All the same, we know where we are, sir,’ said the Inspector, reporting to the Chief Constable later and in Mrs Bradley’s presence. ‘He typed the letters all right. We’ve tackled his landlady. She said at first that she’d never heard the sound of typing, and didn’t know what a typewriter would look like, but she remembered hearing the noise when the sergeant tapped on one in Emming’s room, although she’s positive she’d only heard it once before. He must have typed all the letters but one when she was out. He denied ever having had a typewriter, but she’s prepared to swear to the sound and to the date.’

‘The date?’ said Mrs Bradley, when she heard this. ‘What about the date?’

‘December twenty-ninth, mam. She works for Mr Baird, as you know, and found him preparing to leave for Edinburgh for Hogmanay. He’d forgotten to mention it and he gave her her money, and told her to wash up and go. It was one of her regular mornings, of course, so that Emming was not expecting her to come back so soon, and he was using the typewriter when she arrived. He stopped as soon as she came in, but she recognized the sound when we reproduced it for her.’

‘She doesn’t sound to me at all a reliable witness. For one thing, had she never noticed the typewriter in his room?’ demanded the Chief Constable.