"It was, eh? After Carter had been seen?"
Cook raised his eyes from the folder, and gazed frowningly into space. "Yes, after Carter had been seen. She said she'd go and get the cigarettes, but he told her not to bother, and walked over to his study window, which, as you know, Inspector, is hidden from the hedge by a bed full of flowering currant bushes, and the like."
"Go on," said Hemingway. "What happened next?"
"Miss White said she was standing looking down to the bridge, when suddenly the shot sounded, and she saw Carter fall. I asked her particularly, at the time, if she'd noticed any movement in the shrubbery, and she said no, she hadn't noticed anything."
Hemingway looked a little disappointed. "No," he said, scratching his chin, "that won't do. Not as it stands. There must have been something else happened after White went to the study window, and before Miss White saw Carter fall. If there wasn't anything, then I'll have to own I don't see how White could have done it."
"Well, nothing did happen," said Cook. "I remember Miss White saying that she was just standing there, not thinking of anything in particular," He stopped. "Now, just a moment! The gate! She said she was thinking that the hinges on it ought to be oiled, or something of the sort. They certainly do creak badly. I wonder: would that sort of fit in?"
"It might. The creak of the gate being the signal, in a manner of speaking. Though it doesn't explain how White could have fired that shot. However, there's no sense in trying to rush things. What happened when Carter fell?"
"Miss White screamed," replied Cook. "White asked her what the devil was the matter - he's a testy chap, you know - and she must have told him, I suppose, for he came over to her, to see for himself. Yes, and he had a box of cigarettes in his hand right enough, for he chucked it on to one of the chairs, and I saw it there myself, with the cigarettes spilled all round it. No hanky-panky about that. He said he was going to reach in through the study window for a box of cigarettes, and that's just exactly what he did do."
"While his son shot Carter," interjected Sergeant Wake.
Cook turned his head. "What's that? Young White? I don't see him doing it myself."