"According to the newspaper reports of the case, the door is always kept locked. Is that correct?"
"As a general rule it is. But it was found unlocked before dinner on the night the murder was committed."
"I was not informed of this before."
"Phil was not aware of it, and Detective Caldew attached so little importance to it when I told him after the murder that I should not have thought it worth mentioning if you had not asked me. Caldew's point of view was that the door had been left unlocked, accidentally, by one of the servants, which is quite possible. I understand both detectives agree that it had nothing to do with the murder, because the door was locked by the butler, who discovered it unlocked, fully an hour before the murder was committed. If Hazel Rath had attempted to escape that way she would have been caught in a cul-de-sac, for we rushed upstairs from the dining-room immediately we heard the scream."
"Did you search the back staircase?"
"Almost immediately. It was empty."
"And there is no doubt that the door at the bottom was locked?"
"None whatever—one of the young men tried it."
"What time did the butler make his discovery?"
"Shortly before dinner. I do not know the exact time."