"The last part of the hypothesis I told you — that is, the murder of Depping by his confederate — was based on the assumption that the confederate was a willing accomplice, who knew what Depping meant to do; and, second, that this accomplice had meantime devised his own plan for killing Depping. That he went to the Guest House prepared with rubber gloves. That he left Depping locked out on the balcony, pretending that the key was lost; that he made Depping come up through the front door to provide an alibi… Is that correct?"
"Fair enough," said Hugh. "What then?"
Morgan replied quietly: "Only that the accomplice was nothing of the kind, and had at first not the slightest intention of killing Depping."
"But, look here-"
"J. R.'s objection is perfectly sound. It's convincing, and it's true. Depping would never have suggested to anybody hereabouts that they assist him in a murder; or even have hinted at an unsavory past, until… Wait a bit. But there would have been any number of harmless people in this vicinity quite willing to assist Depping in what they thought was a lark."
Burke snorted. "A lark! You've an odd notion of the people in your circle, my boy, if you think they're addicted—"
"Have you forgotten the poltergeist?" said Morgan.
After a silence he went on steadily:
"Somebody was willing to cut up that row with the vicar, and probably enjoyed it. I should have enjoyed it, personally… I still insist that several people could have been drawn in to assist Depping, unwittingly, if they had been persuaded it was a show of that sort. It wouldn't be hard to spin up a tale that would plant an unconscious confederate in that study. Depping meant to go out and kill Spinelli. But the accomplice didn't know that."
"In that case," said Donovan, who was trying to hold hard to reason, "what becomes of the plot to kill Depping? What about the rubber gloves — and the key that accomplice pretended to have lost — and—?"