“Right! On the face of it, the burglary and the murder of Neville Shandon fit together. But the trouble is that the commission of the burglary would show that it was Neville they were after, and hence make the murder of Roger useless as a blind. I merely point out the snag. I’m not trying to carp, Squire.”
Wendover thought for a minute or more in silence. Then he produced a reply.
“The two murders were part of a pre-devised scheme, as I suggested. But afterwards, the murderer found he hadn’t got the documents complete. He had to get them if possible. So he took the risk of the burglary giving the show away.”
Sir Clinton admitted the possibility of such a case.
“But now what about the attack on Ernest Shandon. How does that fit in?”
“What’s one murder more or less to a man who has two on his soul already? The attack on Ernest may have been an extra blind, simply, like the murder of Roger Shandon. Suppose they’d got Ernest this afternoon, wouldn’t that have tangled the business up still further?”
“Admitted, of course. And really friend Ernest would hardly have been missed. Is that all the theory you have on the point?”
Wendover was rather doubtful about putting forward his second choice.
“It might have been a practical joke, of course. Someone with a sense of humour rather out of gear might have had a grudge against the little beast and, knowing he was an arrant coward, they might have stirred him up without meaning to do him any real harm—just used an ordinary air-gun dart.”
He looked at Sir Clinton suspiciously.