“We didn’t finish dinner until almost ten,” Mother broke in triumphantly.

But nobody was listening. Not even Larry. All this time he had not spoken. It was as though everything was unimportant except for the single fact that Isabel was dead. I think he hadn’t even heard Mr. Leland’s accusation. He stirred now, however. “Why?” he said, out of a clear sky. “Why would anyone want to kill her? She never hurt anybody in her life.”

The Inspector looked at him.

“I suppose you can account for your time, Mr. Shepard?”

“Not exactly. I didn’t look at my watch.”

“Did you leave the house at all during the evening? Your mother’s house?”

Larry shrugged.

“I went outside after dinner was over,” he said indifferently. “To get away from the noise. I lit a cigarette and walked down the drive a few yards. That’s all.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“I don’t know. It was pretty dark. I heard the policeman’s horse. I’m not sure he was on it. If he was he could have seen me. The outside lights were off on account of the dimout, but I left the hall door open.

“You didn’t come down to your own house?”

“I wish to God I had.”

“What about cars? Were there no chauffeurs around?”

“There were a few parked cars, but their lights were off too. The cars with chauffeurs had been told to stay outside in Linden Avenue until they were called.”

The Inspector abandoned Larry for the minute. He picked up the platinum chain with its tassel and held it out.

“Do you recognize this, Mr. Leland?” he inquired.

Andrew Leland looked uncertain.

“I don’t remember it. What about it?”

The Inspector explained, but Andrew shook his head.

“I wouldn’t know. Perhaps Emily—perhaps my wife will remember.”

The thought of his wife seemed to overwhelm him. He got out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead, and I glanced at Mother. All at once I felt there was something queer about her. She nodded her head to me, but I couldn’t understand what she meant. The Inspector was talking. There had been no robbery. Isabel’s pearls were on her dressing table, as was her huge square-cut diamond engagement ring. Larry had given the police the combination of Isabel’s safe, but her bracelets and other jewels were still there.

“That is not conclusive, of course,” he said. “The man might have been scared off, perhaps by the maid’s return. And we have not been able to find the weapon. It may have been thrown into the shrubbery, and we will find it in the morning. Mr. Shepard states that he saw no weapon by the body, and so does his mother.”

“I wouldn’t believe either one of them on oath,” said Andrew Leland, and gave Larry a look of pure hatred.

That was when Mother did something she had never done before. She simply put her head back in her chair, closed her eyes, and sagged. Larry was on his feet in a second, yelling for water. But by the time he reached her she was over whatever it was. She looked up pathetically.