‘Thank you, I don’t mind if I do,’ said the detective, sinking back into his chair. ‘Now, Mr. Felix, let us go over every one that knew about the cask being there.’
‘No one but myself and the carter, I assure you.’
‘Yourself, the carter, myself, and my man Walker—four to start with.’
Felix smiled.
‘As far as I am concerned,’ he said, ‘I left here, as you appear to know, almost immediately after the arrival of the cask and did not return till after one o’clock. All of that time I was in the company of Dr. William Martin and a number of mutual friends. So I can prove an alibi.’
Burnley smiled also.
‘For me,’ he said, ‘I am afraid you will have to take my word. The house was watched by Walker from ten o’clock, and we may take it as quite impossible that anything could have been done after that hour.’
‘There remains therefore the carter.’
‘There remains therefore the carter, and, as we must neglect no possibilities, I will ask you to give me the address of the cartage firm and any information about the man that you may have.’
‘John Lyons and Son, 127 Maddox Street, Lower Beechwood Road, was the contractor. The carter’s name, beyond Watty, I don’t know. He was a rather short, wiry chap, with a dark complexion and small black moustache.’