"What's the matter, son?"
"When I was in that damned bedroom on the night of all the mess," he explained, "I happened to see Fane's bank book. There was twenty-two hundred pounds in his current account alone."
He detailed the incident, but Masters was not impressed.
"That's just about correct," the chief inspector agreed. "It's debts I'm talking about. I've seen the figures. Most of the cash was in the current account: maybe so he could get at it easy if he had to have it in a hurry. Some people intimate that there's been something very, very fishy about the firm of Fane, Fane & Randall. We know Mr. Fane had to sell his life insurance about six months ago, but he got it all back.
"And, whatever money he had to pay out, it's all covered up now. Mr. Fane was a very conscientious sort of bloke. His books are in order, and everything as neat as a pin."
"They couldn't," said Courtney, "be as neat as a certain pin I'm thinking about."
"Eh?"
All the repressed curiosity of the past three days, all the ache and memory of that night in the garden with Vicky Fane struggling for life, came back in a wave of almost maniacal bewilderment.
"Look here," Courtney said, "I've got no concern with this case, except that a friend of mine does happen to be mixed up in it. It may be none of my business. But may I ask just one question?"
"Sure, son," conceded H.M. "Fire away."