"I thought you did not suspect me?" said Joyce snappishly.
"Not of the crime, for I know what a coward you are. But you know something about it. Still, if the police knew all I do, you would find yourself in Queer Street. Again I say that in your desire to avert suspicion from yourself, you have brought it upon your head. However I think the reason given in the paper you speak of ridiculous. Go on. What of your plans? How were they carried out?"
"I first looked up a map of the country to see where Carr lived. Then as you had proposed a walking tour, I induced you to take the route which ran right across Carr's place. I thought if anything occurred you could prove that I was with you."
"But did you expect the man to be murdered while we were on our tour?"
"I did not know what might happen. As it was I knew the man was dead when I rejoined you at Southberry. But my idea was to see him, and then to pass afterwards with you through the village. When I set out on the walking tour I never thought he would be murdered."
"It was, to say the least, strange that Carr should meet with his death at so critical a moment to you," said Herrick doubtfully, "he had lived safely for ten years."
"It was chance I suppose. At all events I did not kill him as you seem to suppose. I simply wished to see him about the annuity. When I left you at Southberry and went to London on the plea of seeing Frith and Frith, I left my bag at the Hull Hotel to provide a second alibi. I intended to get down and see Carr, then be back and sleep at the Hull Hotel on that night. It was the murder that threw me out."
Herrick laughed. "And it was the murder against which you were taking all these precautions. How ironical! Well?"
"I went to my flat and got my bicycle, and I wrapped myself up in my great-coat. Then I went down to Saxham by the Heathcroft line. I alighted there at seven o'clock; had something to eat at the railway bar, and then rode on my bicycle to Saxham. I found the house from the map and waited in the pine woods before I could make up my mind to go in and seek for an interview."
"At what time did you hide in the Pine Woods?"