"No, but I know what it is," retorted the Sergeant insubordinately. "It's seeing things, like you warned me you were beginning to."
"One of these days I shall get annoyed with you," said Hemingway. "You'll be reduced to the ranks, very likely."
"But, Chief, he couldn't have done it!" the Sergeant pointed out.
"If it comes to that, they couldn't any of them have done it."
"I know; but he's the one man who's got an alibi from the moment Herriard went upstairs to the moment when he was found dead!"
"When you put it to me like that, I can't make out why I didn't suspect him at the outset," said Hemingway imperturbably.
The Sergeant said almost despairingly: "He was talking to Miss Clare through the communicating door into the bathroom. You aren't going to tell me you suspect her of being mixed up in it?"
"No, I'm not. What I am going to tell you, though, is that when you get a bunch of suspects only one of whom has had the foresight to provide himself with an alibi, you want to keep a very sharp eye on that one. I admit I didn't, but that was very likely because you distracted me."
The Sergeant swallowed something in his throat. "Very likely," he agreed bitterly.
"That's right," said Hemingway. "You stop giving me lip, and think it over. Whichever way you turn in this case, you come up against Joseph. You must have noticed it. Take the party itself! Whose bright idea was that? You can ask any of the people up at the Manor, and they'll all give you the same answer: Joseph! I never met the late Nathaniel when he was alive, but I've heard enough about him to be pretty sure he wasn't the kind of man who liked Christmas parties. No, it was kind old Uncle Joseph who thought it would be nice to have a real old-fashioned Christmas, with a lot of goodwill floating around, and everyone making up old quarrels, and living happily ever after. Young Stephen wasn't on good terms with Nathaniel, on account of his bit of fluff; Paula had been worrying the life out of him to put up the cash for Roydon's play; Mottisfont had been getting his goat by selling arms to China, in a highly illegal fashion. So Joseph gets the bright idea of asking all three of them, plus two of the causes of the trouble, down to Lexham. You can say he was being well-meaning but tactless, if you like; on the other hand, you can widen your horizon a bit, and ask yourself if he wasn't perhaps getting together all the people most likely to quarrel with Nathaniel, to act as cover for himself."