"What I say. I speak plainly enough don't I?"
"What should I know about the murder except what I read in the newspapers?" was Craver's reluctant reply. "Because it took place in my father's parish that does not mean my having anything to do with it."
"I never suggested your having," said Claudia, in a cross tone. "How you do jump to conclusions. But dad was in the house when Sir Hector was killed."
"Yes. Upstairs in the drawing-room. He came down when----"
"When the crime was committed. Mrs. Vence and the policeman said that Sir Hector was dead before dad appeared in the study."
"Yes. So I read in the report of the inquest proceedings. Well?"
"Well if that is the case dad is innocent."
Craver stared. When Claudia first broached the unpleasant subject he had turned pale, but now the colour was slowly creeping back into his sunburnt face. "Of course, Mr. Lemby is innocent," he said, after a pause. "There never was any question of his having anything to do with the death."
"Sir Hector was rich," said Claudia, in apparently an irrelevant manner.
Craver nodded, wondering what she meant. "Five thousand a year according to the gossip of the newspapers."