‘I think he suspected something when the cats and dogs disappeared. I think he had decided, perhaps, that Tiny’s story about the cats and dogs was rather thin. However, he did not communicate anything to Jonathan, and while he was out the murderers, I imagine – but this is the purest guesswork – staged a rehearsal of his own death. That would account for the “ghost” on Christmas Eve.’

‘Why didn’t he confide in your nephew, do you suppose?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps the fact that Mansell and Obury were expected back and might interrupt the confidences decided him – or perhaps he expected them to be present, and was nonplussed.’

‘I can’t see that it made any ultimate difference whether he told Mr Bradley or not.’

‘No, I agree. My nephew would hardly have deduced Mrs Dalby Whittier’s death.’

‘And what are you going to do now?’

‘I am going to wait. The typewriter, as I say, will be traced to Robert Emming and then he will be exposed, but, unfortunately, not for murder.’

‘What will happen to this Mrs Robert Emming at the cottage?’

‘Nothing, until Tiny Fullalove is released from hospital. After that, I would not go bail for her chances, or for Emming’s, either, if she remains where she is. The trouble is that, until she is the victim of at least one murderous attempt, it is going to be very difficult to make out a cast-iron case against Tiny Fullalove except upon Emming’s evidence, and that will be highly suspect. Tiny is a very clever man. Almost nothing of all this can be traced directly to him at present. Even Ed Brown’s evidence can only incriminate Emming, it seems to me.’

‘What about you yourself? Are not you in danger from these men?’

‘I think not, now. They will realize that by this time all I know or guess I shall have told. I don’t think that either of them would now take the risk of trying to get me out of the way, and I am glad to say that Will North is now similarly circumstanced. He has told all he knows. But I am worried about Ed Brown. He knows far too much for his own health. I have attempted to persuade him to take refuge at my London clinic for a time, but he won’t consider that at all. He says that he is well able to take care of himself, but Emming must be getting desperate, and is entirely without scruple, and Ed has not yet told all he knows. At least, that is still my belief. I wish I could get out of him what he is hiding.’

‘Yes. But did Emming kill his mother? That is a thing I find incredible.’