"Dark Queen was with the others until four o'clock, because it was then that Miss Tremble and Pip's mother saw her. She wasn't there when Clear-Orf and Tupping went to see them at five. So, in that hour, somebody must have gone to the cage, unlocked it, taken out the cat, locked the cage again, and gone off with Dark Queen, and either given her to someone else or hidden her away."
"Right," said Larry. "Very clearly put, Daisy."
"The next thing is: Who could have stolen the cat? Whom can we suspect?" said Pip.
"Well, I suppose Miss Tremble might have slipped down and taken Dark Queen out," said Fatty. "Not very likely, of course, because Miss Tremble, poor thing, is the kind of person who would have a fit if she even posted a letter without a stamp. She'd dream about it all night long! Still, we have to consider everyone who had a chance of stealing Dark Queen."
Larry pulled out a notebook. "I'll write the names down, he said. "Miss Tremble is one. What about Lady Candling?"
"She wouldn't steal her own cat, silly," said Daisy.
"She might," said Larry. "It might be insured against theft, you know. She would get a lot of money. You've got to think of all these things." He wrote down Lady Candling's name.
"Tupping?" said Bets.
Larry shook his head very regretfully. "No, Bets. I'd love to put his name down; but if he was with old Clear-Orf all the afternoon it's just no good suspecting him. What about Miss Harmer? Could she possibly have come back quietly and secretly from her day out and taken the cat? She knew how valuable Dark Queen was."
This was quite a new idea. Everyone thought of the plump, smiling Miss Harmer. She didn't seem at all the sort of person who would steal a valuable cat from her employer. Still — her name went down on the list of Suspects.