“That is he!” said Freyberger.
“I suspect so. The only thing that makes me feel doubtful is the use of the knife. A strangler once a strangler always.”
“He is frightened,” said Freyberger. “He must assuage his passion for murder, and he has changed his method.”
“Do you think you will find him in the neighbourhood of Sonning?”
“I think it probable.”
“Probable?”
“Yes.”
“We have a few minutes to spare before you need start to catch your train,” said the chief, who always liked to get at Freyberger’s line of reasoning. “So you can just tell me why you think it probable. I would have put it down only as possible.”
“In this way, sir. Why has this murder (if it is one of Klein’s), why has it taken place at Sonning rather than anywhere else? Sonning is a pleasant place enough to spend a day, it would be pleasant enough to spend a week there, but that fact is not an inducement to a murderer. I believe this man commits his crimes within easy reach of some den of his. We know from the house-agent that a man, similar to him, took a house in St Ann’s Road. We have seen that he only furnished one room, and had no servant or help of any sort. He does not want to be spied on.
“We may suppose he left London, and for some reason or another took probably a cottage near Sonning, just as he took a cottage on the Fells of Cumberland.”