Pickering and the younger man left, leaving only Hadley and myself with Holmes. Hadley closed the door of the anteroom, which led to the rest of the station, and sat in a chair facing the cell. He eyed my friend wearily and shook his head. ‘What a morning! You have made this extremely difficult for me, Mr Holmes. Your escape last time was reported to the Wyndhams, and the University has become involved, naming you as a dangerous threat. A great deal of pressure is being brought to bear on the police regarding you.’

‘Mr Hadley,’ said Holmes reasonably, ‘I know that it appears that Deacon Buttons murdered Miss Wyndham, but when you know all, you will agree that it is not quite sewn up. I believe I am very near to closing this case for you and need only a short time more to finish my investigation. I have given some details to Constable Wright which I have asked him to check for me at the rectory just now, but it would be best if you allowed me to complete the investigation.’

‘You are bound by law to report all your findings to me, Mr Holmes.’

‘Bound by law is an understatement in this case,’ said Holmes wryly. ‘Release me, and I will deliver Miss Wyndham’s murderer to you.’

‘You have tied my own hands, Mr Holmes – to continue the metaphor,’ said Hadley. ‘But I don’t mean to be flippant. We have the two main suspects in hand now. Both had reason to kill the girl. Good reason. With Buttons’ attempted suicide, I am afraid he slants the case towards himself.’

‘You mean three suspects? You also have Frederick Eden-Summers and Leo Vitale?’ asked Holmes. ‘Three men were in love with the girl.’

‘We have eliminated Eden-Summers for the moment. I will admit his alibi is weak. Most of the card-playing fellows he named as witnesses were inebriated during the hours in question. However, the sheer number of them who came forward weights the case in favour of his innocence. We have remanded him to his parents’ estate.’

‘Surely Eden-Summers is the most motivated of the three!’ Holmes said. ‘Miss Wyndham publicly announced her engagement to him, then became engaged to a second young man, and pawned both rings.’

I was surprised at this. I thought that Buttons had been confirmed in Holmes’s mind as the killer, or at least that our recent discoveries had moved the deacon into first position among the suspects.

‘And,’ said Holmes, ‘Mr Eden-Summers apparently found out about that second engagement the night of Dillie’s murder. Leo Vitale paid him a visit at his lodgings. Don’t you find that sufficient to keep him in the running?’

‘You have spoken to Mr Eden-Summers, then?’

‘I have spoken to all three of her young men,’ said Holmes.