"Well," said Fane, with the air of a man dismissing the subject, "if you do intend to make inquiries, please keep me advised of your discoveries. I should like to know how the woman entered the house. I believe you saw my locksmith?"
"I did. He swears positively that he did not make a duplicate key. More than that, he has not a duplicate of the one he made you."
Fane looked doubtful. "I should have thought he would have retained a copy for trade purposes. Suppose I lost the key----"
"He would not have been able to make you another, Mr. Fane. However, I am keeping an eye on him. He may be lying for his own ends. One never knows, and I always mistrust respectable men."
"From what my sister-in-law told me, Mr. Derrick, you were inclined to mistrust me."
Derrick coughed. "The case is so strange," said he; "but I am now quite sure that you had nothing to do with the matter."
"Thank you for nothing," said Fane dryly. "It is lucky that with the assistance of my wife I was able to prove an alibi."
"Very lucky indeed," replied the inspector cheerfully. "Had you been in town that night, and unable to explain your comings and goings, it might have gone hard with you."
"Do you mean to say----"
"Nothing--absolutely nothing. But see here, Mr. Fane; put yourself in my place, in the place of any man. A woman gains admittance to your house and there is murdered. You alone have the key. On the face of it, does not that look as though you alone killed her, else, why the use of your key to let her enter the house? It is lucky for you, as you say, that in full open court, and in the ears of all men, you were able to prove an alibi, else nine out of ten would have suspected you of knowing more than you stated."