“Shut up, Anthony, and don’t be tactless!” Roger interposed hastily. “Did I get any information out of her, Inspector? Nothing more than you got yourself, I fancy. She told me that you’d been putting her through it.”
“She’s a very important person in the case,” said the inspector with an apologetic air. “Last one to see Mrs. Vane alive, as you said just now.”
“I didn’t say that exactly,” Roger remarked drily; “but let it pass. And you got no further impression from her than that she was a nice young lady and might be a bit deep?”
“Well I didn’t say that, sir,” ruminated the inspector. “No, I wouldn’t say that at all. I got the impression that she wasn’t over-fond of that cousin of hers, for one thing.”
“Wasn’t fond of her cousin?” Roger cried in surprise. “But Mrs. Vane had been extraordinarily kind to her. Taken her to live with them, paid her a generous salary probably for doing nothing, made a will in her favour! Why, she owed Mrs. Vane a tremendous lot!”
“Are we always over-fond of people we owe a tremendous lot to?” asked the inspector pointedly.
“I’m sure,” Anthony began stiffly, “that Miss Cross⸺”
“Shut up, Anthony!—But why are you so sure about this, Inspector? You must have something more to go on than just an impression.”
“I have, sir. What I learned from the servants. Mrs. Vane and Miss Cross used to quarrel quite a lot, I understand. It seems to have been a matter of common talk among the servants.”
“Of course, if you take any notice of the gossip of servants,” said Anthony with fine scorn, “I daresay you’d⸺”