“He may have a very good reason. Suppose Mr Granniss was at the safe and suppose Martha surprised him there as she had startled Mrs Varian. And suppose Mr Granniss didn’t want it known that he had been there, so he took the only sure method of silencing her lips.”
“And what would Mr Granniss be doing at the safe?” asked Dunn.
“Well, I happen to know that there was considerable of value in that safe last night.”
Rodney started. How did the sheriff know that?
But he said, “This is aside the mark, Mr Potter. For Mrs Varian has trusted me with the combination of the safe. I can open it at any time without let or hindrance. Why, then, should I sneak down in the middle of the night to do so?”
“For the very good reason that you wanted to take the money that was there and make off with it.”
“And did I get it?”
“I should say not,” declared Potter, “since you are still here!” He looked proud of this triumph of deduction, and went on:
“You had some valuables in that safe last night, Mrs Varian, did you not?”
“Yes,” replied Minna, almost smiling at the trend of the questions.