"Carry on, son," urged H.M., with evil jocularity.
"It reads this way:
"'The murderer: Henry Bowers.
"The motive: money. We are forced to the conclusion that Paul Hogenauer, with his knowledge of engraving, printing, and inks second to none in the world, had been a member of the Willoughby gang. This was why (as everyone agrees) he went in such fear of the police. When the police were closing in on Willoughby, Hogenauer knew it, and knew that he must run for it out of the country. This is why he needed two thousand pounds, and made a proposition to betray L. falsely. It is a mistake to assume that all the Willoughby money was found at the Willoughby plant. A good part of it must have been at Hogenauer's villa.'
Here Stone paused, and turned over to the other side of the sheet. Stone cleared his throat, and cast an eye towards H.M. before he went on:
"'But Bowers did not know what Hogenauer was doing. Bowers thought that the small sums he had found in the house were real money. He believed Hogenauer to be half mad, and capable of such oversights. Then Bowers came upon a packet of £100 notes, of the same sort as that later found in the newspaper. The sum amounted to a thousand pounds or more, enough to tempt a stronger head than Bowers's. He murdered Hogenauer to get it. And this is proved by the fact that here — before us — Bowers only broke down, and grew hysterical, when he was told that the £100 note was counterfeit. It was to cover himself up that he lied about Hogenauer's large bank-balance, and lied about hearing Antrim's voice in the house.'
"That's all," observed Stone, shaking the slip as though to demonstrate this. "It begins a new sentence, but breaks off"
"You didn't give us a chance to finish," I said to H.M. "Bowers had the best opportunity of all. He was here in the hall of this house and heard Antrim prescribe bromide. He could have come back here in the hired car that night, burgled the house_ "
"Whoa!" said H.M. "Steady, now. We can't go beyond what's written down in the papers. Next case."
Stone had the air of a man opening prize-packages. He took the second slip and exhibited it to everyone.