“Certainly a possibility,” I said, “but——”
“You don’t think so, eh?”
“Well, candidly,” I rejoined, “I’m not convinced.”
“Nor am I.” He smiled again. “I’m only discussing possibilities. Still”—he proceeded more slowly, “I’m inclined to think that this discovery tends to eliminate Barker from our list of suspects.”
“Can’t see it—quite,” I intervened. “I think it’s rather damaging to him.”
He looked at me keenly.
“I think this,” he said. “If Lieutenant Barker had been after that I.O.U.—sufficiently enthusiastic for its possession to murder a man—that once he had got his claws on it, he would have destroyed it.”
“How?” I said—“and where? He was bound to keep it for a time—he couldn’t destroy it directly he got it—he might have left traces—that would have inevitably incriminated him!” I was jubilant—I felt I had scored.
Anthony lit a cigarette. “Bill,” he conceded, “you’re right—that’s certainly a point that I had not considered!”