"I wasn't asked, and besides 'twas about noon, and old Timken only asked about the afternoon——"
"And besides," broke in Bannard, "you weren't sure you did see me, and you weren't sure you saw anybody, and you made up this whole yarn, anyhow!"
"Nothing of the sort, and you'll find out, Win Bannard, when I tell all I know——"
"Quit it now," ordered Hughes; "if you've anything to tell of real importance, Roger, tell it to me when we're alone. Don't sing out your information all over the place."
"You're going straight ahead with your investigations, then?" Bannard asked of the detective.
"Yes, but we can't do much till after the funeral, and——"
"And what?"
"And after the reading of the will. You know motive is a strong factor in unraveling a murder case. Why, s'pose some of the servants receive large legacies; and you know how queer Mrs. Pell was—she might well leave a fortune to those Purdys."
"Oh, they didn't do it," and Bannard tossed off the idea as absurd.
"You don't know. Leaving out, as I said before, the question of how the villain got in or out, it might easily have been one or more of the servants. And other help is hired beside the regular house crowd. Take it from me, it was somebody in the house, and not an intruder from outside."