H.M. drew deeply at the cigar, scowled, and put down the glass on the table beside him.
"Y'see," he said, "the boy-murderer is not at all uncommon, I don't have to tell you that Usually he's psychopathic, as Ricky Fleet is. But as a rule, he's nabbed straightway and shoved into confinement where he can't do any more harm.
"What's interesting here is to watch the boy-murderer who's grown up into a man-murderer. Still protected and cosseted by his mother! Still not believin' a soul now alive has suspected him! To watch his reaction to grown-up life; watch him squirm, watch him wriggle, watch him blurt out things, watch him smile and smile, until he's told his last lie. All that y'know, you saw unroll in front of your eyes.
"Now if we're goin'.into the grisly details," continued H.M., "there are some things we got to understand about Ricky Fleet.
"He really is a charmin' and likeable bloke. His good-nature is absolutely genuine. His generosity and free-handedness are genuine. His bravery, where he could be crazy-reckless but cool-headed at the same time, was genuine too. If you think those qualities can’t belong to a murderer just balanced between sanity and insanity, think of Ronald True. Or Patrick Mahon. Or — my eye, how recent this is! — Neville Heath." H.M. grunted.
At the end of the sofa opposite sat Jenny, her eyes fixed intently on him, and Martin with his arm round Jenny. Ruth sat at the other end of the sofa, with Stannard perched on its arm. He was an effulgent Stannard, beaming.
"To start at the beginning," continued H.M., eyeing a pile of papers on the table beside his glass, "Masters sent me a heap of testimony about the death of George Fleet. Together with three apparently scatty postcards about 'examine the skeleton in the clock' and 'what was the pink flash' and 'the evidence is still there.'
"I'd decided, before we went to Berkshire, that Fleet's death was murder. I argued the salient points with Masters at the Dragon's Rest on Saturday. You people haven't seen these typed sheets, maybe…"
Martin intervened.
"I've heard some of it," he said. "I heard you prove to Puckston, out of his own testimony, that he couldn't have swung that telescope round when he said he did. Did that make you suspect it was murder?"