“If she had been carrying on an intrigue with him as well as Woodthorpe,” Anthony murmured.
Roger shifted his position so that he could plunge both his legs in the water up to their knees. “Ah, that’s better. You’re missing a lot, Anthony, if you only knew it, by being so proud and superior; superior people always do.—Yes, that’s perfectly true. Russell would then have almost exactly the same motive for getting rid of her as Colin had, wouldn’t he? Jealous wife instead of jealous unknown fiancée (I wonder who friend Colin is meditating an engagement with, by the way, if Moresby’s right. It ought to be easy enough to find out), plus fear of jealous husband’s righteous wrath possibly into the bargain, if she’d been trying the same bluff on with him too. But that does make the lady a little—how shall I put it?—promiscuous, doesn’t it?”
“I shouldn’t think she’d stick at that,” said Anthony sagely.
“Oh, nor should I. Not for a moment. Especially if she’d got a little game on with both of them, to her own ultimate advantage. But if that were the case, I can’t help thinking it somewhat imprudent to meet them both in the same very compromising spot. That doesn’t sound like Mrs. Vane at all to me.”
“But she did meet the second man in the same place for all that,” Anthony pointed out, “whether it was Russell or not.”
“Yes, that’s true enough. Of course, this may have been an isolated assignation, made with the knowledge that Colin would be busy at that time elsewhere. But Colin hasn’t an alibi for the time of Mrs. Vane’s death, we discovered, whereas the inspector says that Russell himself has, a cast-iron one. No, it’s a pure guess of mine, Anthony, but I feel instinctively that this mysterious man is somebody who hasn’t cropped up in the case at all yet.”
“Oh! That’s rather vague. And you haven’t the slightest notion who it could be?”
“Yes, I have,” Roger replied thoughtfully. “Just the slightest notion. It’s my opinion that this man will prove to be somebody out of Mrs. Vane’s murky past. Quite possibly her real husband.”
“By Jove, that’s an idea,” Anthony concurred with enthusiasm. “Good for you, Roger!”
“Thank you, Anthony,” Roger returned gratefully.