“Mr. Everett is,” Maud volunteered. “He was here one night and we talked about books. We didn’t talk very seriously, but I gathered he was widely read, and had really good taste in literature.”
“And Everett is undoubtedly in love with Mrs. Dallas,” Kee went on, “and of course, he will have a bequest, and of course, he could get out of the room as well as anybody else, and we know somebody did, so all things being equal, why not suspect Everett instead of Ames?”
“Because of the difference in the characters of the two men,” Lora said, with emphasis. “I’m ready to grant a murderer may masquerade as an angel of light, but all the same, we have to judge our fellow men more or less by appearances, and I’ll pick Ames for a criminal long before I’ll choose Charlie Everett.”
“And we’re leaving out Billy Dean entirely?”
“I am,” I said. “He’s a nice, decent chap, and he’s too young for a murderer, at least, with no motive other than a bit of money. He isn’t in love with Mrs. Dallas, is he?”
“Lord, no. He’s in love with the Remsen girl.”
“Well, then,” I said, “if that nice boy is in love with that nice girl, he’s not going to commit a crime. I say, let’s eliminate him.”
“Then,” Kee summed up, “we’ve eliminated everybody but Ames and Everett. Griscom is the only servant we could possibly suspect, and he is said to be devoted to his master, and too, I’m told he has a tidy sum laid by, so I don’t see him driving nails into people.”
“We can’t get away from the nail and the sort of character it connotes,” I said. “I stand by Ames until he’s definitely eliminated.”
“Well, I guess we’re all agreed, then,” and Keeley rose and stretched his long arms. “Now, I’m for a swim. Who’ll go?”