He turned to the inspector.
“Inspector, when did you learn what had become of the poor little fellow?”
“I didn’t; it was McCarty,” the inspector admitted frankly. “He told me this morning that he might have news for me by noon but until he telephoned ordering the squad of men with shovels I hadn’t an inkling.”
“Then you—?” Orbit turned again to McCarty.
“’Twas the dog first put it in my head by hovering all the time about that coal chute,” the latter responded. There was a new note in his voice as he went on. “It struck me too, as kind of funny you’d be having that coal put in an hour before your party, dirtying the place all up; even if it had been ordered you could have sent it away again for you’d not be lighting up your furnace for weeks yet. I found then that you never ordered it till half an hour before it got here and you’d ’phoned three times, at that, to hurry it up, yet you told me this morning that it had been arranged four days ago. About twenty minutes before you sent for it first you went down to the kitchen and got a glass of milk from André. Did you drink it yourself, Henry Orbit?”
“I did not!” Orbit’s eyes seemed burning into his face. “It was for Vite, the monkey!”
“But Vite was locked up at the top of the house to be out of the way of the party and Ching Lee had the only key; Fu Moy told me so.”
“Fu Moy is only a child and does not understand English well; Vite was not locked up until just before my guests arrived. What are you trying to insinuate?”
“Nothing. I’m telling you what I know. Fu Moy understands a lot more than you think, Orbit! What time did Horace Goddard come over to see you Tuesday afternoon? If that glass of milk was for the monkey, why didn’t you ring for it instead of going yourself to the kitchen; was it because you wanted nobody to know the lad was here? What did you put in that milk, Orbit, to make Horace unconscious or kill him, the way you poisoned Hughes? I know from André how you got all the servants out of the kitchen and pantries after, so you could get the lad’s body down to the cellar without being seen but why did you do it? What reason had you for bringing such a horrible death on the child who’d done you no harm? What reason did you have for murdering the valet who’d looked out for your comfort for more than twenty years? Why did you put poison gas made from the formula you bought from Hinton Sherard into the Bellamy baby’s toy balloon to kill both her and her nurse? How did you fix it to burst when it did and what chance had you to pump the gas into it? You’re far from crazy, Orbit! Why did you take the lives of these people you had no grudge against, no reason for wanting out of the way? Was it because of the blood that’s in you from generations back urging you on? Answer me that, Henry Orbit!”
“I shall answer nothing—to you.” Orbit’s dark eyes blazed but his voice was dangerously calm. “You admit that I am not insane; I cannot say as much for you in the face of these monstrous accusations!—Inspector, if you are in authority at this highly irregular proceeding, am I to understand that I am formally charged with this atrocious series of crimes? Am I to consider myself under arrest?”