Cecily looked round her in an agony of confusion.
“He came to my office—Mr. Anthony, I mean.”
“Why should he come to your office?”
“He asked me to go out to lunch with him,” Cecily faltered. Then seeing the look on the inspector's face, she gathered up her courage with both hands and faced him with sudden resolution. “We are engaged,” she said simply. “We—I mean it hasn't been announced yet, but his father knows; and we shall tell mine as soon as he comes home—he is abroad now—we are engaged, Anthony Collyer and I.”
The inspector might have smiled but that the thing was too serious.
“Did Mr. Bechcombe know?”
The girl hesitated a moment.
“I think he guessed. From the way he smiled when he mentioned Mr. Collyer in the morning.”
The inspector looked over his notes. He was inclined to think that Cecily Hoyle's evidence, if it could be relied on, would put Anthony Collyer off his list of suspects. Still, he was not going to take any chances.
“I see. So you went out with Mr. Anthony Collyer. Where did you lunch?”