“Then he obviously—or is it ‘she obviously,’ Inspector?—saw the importance of hyoscine as a clue as soon as any word about it got into the newspapers. Immediately, in comes the code advertisement, giving us—rather unnecessarily I think—the tip to inquire at the Croft-Thornton Institute.”
Flamborough's face showed that he felt Sir Clinton was merely recapitulating very obvious pieces of evidence.
“Then there was the writing on the advertisements which he sent to the papers—Mrs. Silverdale's writing rather neatly forged, if you remember.”
“Yes,” said the Inspector, showing by his tone that at this point he was rather at sea.
“Then there was the fact that he managed to choose his time most conveniently for his raid on Miss Deepcar's house.”
“You mean he made his visit when only the maid was at home, sir?”
“Precisely. I rather admire his forethought all through the business. But there's more in it than that, if you think it over, Inspector?”
“Well, sir, if your reading's correct, he wanted some of Silverdale's letters to serve as a basis for these photographs.”
“Something even more obvious than that, Inspector. Now, with all that evidence in front of you, can't you build up some sort of picture of Mr. Justice? You ought to be able to come fairly near it, I think.”
“Somebody fairly in the swim with the Silverdale crowd, at any rate. I can see that. And someone who knew the Croft-Thornton by hearsay, at any rate. Is that what you mean, sir?”