"I'll tell you how it was all done," said Fatty, enjoying himself immensely. "The thief stole Dark Queen out of the cage in the morning; but he cleverly painted a ring of hairs a creamy colour in another cat's tail, so that to anyone not knowing the cats extremely well that other cat seemed to be Dark Queen!"
There was a chorus of exclamations. Miss Trimble's glasses fell off immediately.
"Well," went on Fatty, "you can see that anyone coming to see the cats in the afternoon would think Dark Queen was there — but she wasn't. Then, when the right moment came, the thief hopped into the cage, rubbed the paint off the cat's tail with a rag soaked in turps, and then announced that Dark Queen was missing! So, of course everyone thought the cat must have been stolen in the afternoon, whereas she had been taken in the morning."
"And that's why everyone thought it was me that took the cat," broke in Luke. "Because I was the only one near the cage in the afternoons, and no one came near but me."
"Yes," said Fatty. "That was part of the plan, Luke. The blame was to be put on to you."
"Who was it?" demanded Luke, his face going scarlet with rage. "Just let me get my hands on him, that's all!"
The Inspector sent a glance at Luke and the boy sat back saying no more.
"How do you know all this?" asked Mr. Goon, his face a mixture of amazement, disbelief, and scorn. "It's just a silly make-up. You got to have proof of these things before you can say them."
"We have got proof," said Fatty triumphantly. He put his hand into his pocket. "Look! here is the bottle of turps. It was hidden down a rabbit-hole, with a tin of light-brown paint, used for the cat's tail, and an old paint-brush. Larry, get the other things. They're outside the door."
Fatty brandished the bottle of turps and the paint-brush for everyone to see. Miss Trimble's glasses fell off again, and she was too nervous to replace them. She stared at the clues with short-sighted eyes, and looked at Fatty as if he was the greatest detective in the world.