"Did that return third-class ticket dropped in the room at Paradise Row belong to Dean?" the detective asked himself. "I should not be surprised if it did. As Miss Wedderburn denies that it is hers, Dean, under the name of Martin, is the only person who could have used it. In that case he must have remained in London all night; for, as the crime was committed at ten o'clock, he could not have caught a return train so late to Norminster. Now, Mrs. Grix lives in the Hall, so she is the most likely person to let me know if Dean was absent on the twenty-fourth of July. I'll see her at once and get to know all I can, pending the arrival of Ferris and Miss Wedderburn. They may deny Dean's complicity in the crime, so I must be prepared to baffle them."
Having made up his mind to question Mrs. Grix, the detective, making a hurried meal, walked out to Kirkstone Hall, and arrived to find the old woman solacing herself with gin-and-water after the fatigues of the morning. She was excessively nervous when Gebb reappeared, as she was conscious she had said too much in her rage with Martin, and now guessed that she was about to be thoroughly examined touching all she knew concerning him. Mrs. Grix, to save her own skin, was quite prepared to equivocate, and Gebb guessed as much, for he went to work with her in a severe official way which frightened her considerably.
"Now, Mrs. Grix," said he, when they were comfortably established in the kitchen, "I've come to ask you a few questions."
"I don't know nothin', I don't," protested Mrs. Grix, beginning her tactics.
"You know a great deal," replied Gebb, sharply. "And if you don't answer me truthfully, I'll arrest you on suspicion and put you in gaol 'longside of Dean; so now you know."
"Lawk-a-mussy!" squealed Mrs. Grix, "have you put him in prison?"
"Yes, I have; so you tell me the truth, or I'll put you in also!"
"I'll speak out, sir," cried the old wretch, much terrified. "I don't want to go to prison. I've done nothing."
"You have spied and listened and searched," retorted Gebb, "all for the sake of gaining possession of other people's secrets and extracting blackmail when possible. Now you answer my questions, or it will be the worse for you."
"I'm willing, sir," said Mrs. Grix, meekly; "but I don't know as much as you think. I only suspects like."