“And cooked himself rather a sketchy breakfast?”
“A hasty breakfast, you could call it,” Sergeant Holcomb said. “When a person gets up at five-thirty in the morning on the opening day of the season, he’s anxious to get out and get the fish.”
“I see,” Mason said. “Now, when Mr. Sabin came back from his fishing trip, he was in very much of a hurry to get something to eat. We may assume that the first thing he did when he entered the house, and immediately after removing his boots, was to get himself something to eat. Next in order of importance would have been washing the fish and putting them in the icebox. Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
“Yet, according to your theory,” Mason said, “after he got back, he took enough time to lay the fire in the fireplace, all ready for lighting, before he even took care of his fish.”
Sergeant Holcomb’s face clouded for a moment, then he said, “No, he must have done that the night before.” Having thought a minute, he added, triumphantly, “Of course, he did it the night before. He didn’t have any occasion for a fire in the morning: it was cold when he got up, but he went right out in the kitchen and cooked his breakfast, and then went out fishing.”
“Exactly,” Mason said. “But he had reason for a fire the night before, I believe.”
“What do you mean?”
“In other words,” Mason said, “we know that he was at the cabin at four o’clock on the afternoon of Monday, the fifth. We can surmise that he remained at the cabin until shortly before ten o’clock in the evening, when he went out to place a phone call. If it was cold Monday evening, why didn’t he light a fire?”
“He did,” Sergeant Holcomb said. “He must have. There’s no evidence to show that he didn’t.”