“Well, I shouldn't see any sense in us sitting here agreeing with one another,” returned Hemingway. “Where's that going to get us?”
“Look here, sir!” said Harbottle. “If we're going to assume that the murder was planned to take place when all the guests at that tennis-party were on their way home, then we've also got to assume that the murderer was banking on having all the luck he did have—which seems pretty inadequate planning to me! Why, it could have come unstuck in half a dozen places! To start with, he's got to do the job quick, because it cuts both ways, having a lot of people scattered near the scene: who's to say one of them won't come down the lane? You can say it's unlikely, but it might have happened. What was a dead certainty was that Miss Warrenby was bound to arrive on the scene at any moment. So he's got to reach the house ahead of her, shoot Warrenby, and get away without losing a second of time. What would have happened if Warrenby had gone upstairs, or into the back-garden? He must have faced that possibility! He must have thought, if he planned it, that he must allow himself quite a bit of time, in case of accidents.”
“Quite true, Horace. So you think that he laid his preparations—by which I mean his rifle—on the off-chance that he'd get an opportunity to shoot Warrenby?”
There was a pause. “When you put it like that,” said the Inspector slowly. “No, that won't do. But my arguments still hold!”
“They do,” said Hemingway. “They're perfectly sound, and they do you credit. Our operator didn't want to be hurried over the job, and it's safe to assume he wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks.”
“Then what's the answer?” said Harbottle.
“Warrenby wasn't shot at 7.15, nor anything like that time.”
There was another pause, while the Inspector sat staring at his chief. He said at last: “Very well, sir. I can see several reasons for thinking you're wrong. I'd like to know what the reasons are for thinking you're right, because you haven't jumped to a conclusion like that simply because you want to make out the murder was carefully planned.”
“I haven't jumped at all,” replied Hemingway. “I've been adding up all those bits and pieces of information which didn't seem to lead anywhere. Taking it from the start, the doctor was what you might call vague on the time of Warrenby's death.”
“Yes,” conceded Harbottle. “I remember it was the first point you queried, when you were going through the case with the Chief Constable. But it didn't seem to matter much, and goodness knows Dr. Warcop isn't the only doctor we've come across who's more of a hindrance than a help to the police!”