Dredge nodded. "Yes. This unknown woman is singularly clever."
"Then you think she is guilty?"
"What else can I think, Mr. Vance?" said Dredge, raising his eyebrows. "From what you tell me, I am inclined to think that she was hiding in an upstairs room--there are two--when you entered the shop. Possibly the sound and appearance of your car drove her there after she had murdered the unfortunate Mrs. Caldershaw. You did not enter the shop immediately?"
"Well, no, I was a few minutes looking into things connected with the car."
"And the shop was in darkness?"
"Complete darkness."
"I thought so. This woman heard your car coming, and later on saw it. She doubtless slipped out of the back room, where she had just stabbed her victim, and had the eye--this seems to be the motive for the commission of the crime--in her pocket. She could not walk into the road without running a chance of meeting you, so she sprang up the stairs yonder"--he pointed to the steps, which clung to the wall on one side and had a light railing on the other--"and took refuge in the bedroom. When she heard you enter the back room, she came down turned the key, and ran away with your car."
"Humph!" said I, after a pause, "permit me to put you right on one point, Mr. Inspector. I believe that the woman was in the back room when I entered the shop, for when I tried the door in order to find someone, it was locked."
"Really!" Dredge made a hasty note. "Was the key on the outside?"
"I don't remember. All I know was that I could not pull open the door."