"What was the misunderstanding?" asked Hannasyde.
Mr. Budd looked reproachful. "Now, Superintendent, have a heart! You don't expect a man in my position to disclose the nature of strictly confidential transactions. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be honourable."
"You are mistaken: I do expect just that. We shall probably save time if I tell you at once that Mr. Fletcher's private papers are at this moment in the possession of the police. Moreover, what you refuse to tell me your ledgers will no doubt show."
The look of reproach deepened. More in sorrow than in anger, Budd said gently: "Come, Superintendent, you know you can't act in that high-handed fashion. You're not a fool, I'm not a fool. Where's the sense in trying to get tough with me? Now, I ask you!"
"You will find that I have it in my power to get remarkably tough with you," replied Hannasyde brutally. "On your own showing, you visited Mr. Fletcher on the night of his murder; you admit that a quarrel took place -'
"Not a quarrel, Superintendent! Not a quarrel!"
"- between you; you can bring no evidence to prove that you left the house at the time you stated. Added to these facts, there is enough documentary evidence amongst Mr. Fletcher's papers to justify my applying for a warrant to search these premises."
Budd flung up a hand. "Don't let's have any unpleasantness! You're not treating me as you should, Superintendent. You've got nothing against me. Didn't I go round to Scotland Yard the moment I read the shocking news? Didn't I tell your Sergeant the whole truth? This isn't what I expected. No, it certainly is not what I expected. I've never been on the wrong side of the Law, never in my life. But what reward do I get for that?"
Hannasyde listened to this plaint with an unmoved countenance. Without troubling to reply to it, he said, consulting a paper he had in his hand: "On 10 June Mr. Fletcher wrote to you, instructing you to buy ten thousand shares in Huxton Industries."
"That's correct," said Budd, eyeing him with a little perturbation. "I don't deny it. Why should I?"