"That is all very well," admitted Gebb, "but there was no struggle: there was wine drunk; a cigarette smoked by the murderer: and Miss Gilmar let him wander about the room. What does all this prove? That she knew her visitor and trusted him. She could not, and would not, have trusted the man who had sworn to kill her."
"He might have gone to her disguised as a fortune-teller," suggested Parge.
"That is rather an imaginative suggestion," said Gebb, smiling. "By the way, when did Dean escape?"
"Towards the end of '93; and you say yourself that Miss Gilmar began her wanderings in that year."
"Quite so; and I admit that she fled to escape Dean's vengeance, but I am not so certain that he killed her. Remember, the diamonds were stolen; so it may be a vulgar murder for robbery, after all."
"No," said Parge, sticking obstinately to his point. "Dean killed her out of revenge, and stole the diamonds to provide himself with the means of escape. Have you been round the pawnshops?"
"Not yet; but every pawnbroker has been warned. Also, I have sent detectives over to Amsterdam and to Paris to watch if the diamonds turn up."
"Very good," said Simon, with a nod; "if Dean tries to pawn the jewels you'll catch him."
"I don't believe the thief is Dean."
"I do; and also that he killed Miss Gilmar. Well, and what do you intend to do now?"