“She must have shown him she was frightened,” Roger pursued, thinking rapidly. “But the last time I saw her she seemed quite all right. Something must have happened since then. Inspector—you’re looking guilty! Out with it!”
“I had a long interview with her this morning,” the inspector admitted. “Perhaps I did press her pretty closely. I knew she was concealing her engagement from me, you see, so she might have been concealing other things as well. Yes, I certainly did press her pretty closely.”
“What you really did, I suppose, was to convey to her quite obviously that you still suspected her after all and that if she couldn’t produce a better explanation of certain matters, she’d be finding herself very shortly in distinctly hot water?”
“We have to do these things, you know, sir,” confessed the inspector almost apologetically.
“Well, thank goodness I’m not a policeman,” retorted Roger, making no effort to conceal his distaste. “No wonder you frightened the poor girl out of her wits. I suppose you practically told her you were going to apply for a warrant against her. The rest was inevitable, of course. So what do you suppose is going to happen now?”
“Perhaps when she finds there isn’t a warrant out against her, Mr. Woodthorpe will bring her back the same way as he took her away.”
“Oh, so you’re not going to apply for a warrant after all?” said Roger sarcastically.
“No, sir, I’m not.”
“Very nice for the girl’s reputation, I must say, to be careering about the Continent with a young man for goodness knows how long.”
“She’s engaged to him,” the inspector pointed out mildly. “It is possible for them to get married abroad, you know.”