“Oh, don’t let us stumble over a trifle like that. Let’s be fair all round.” Mrs. Caistor Scorton’s eyes twinkled, but their expression was hardly kindly. “Since you won’t do it, I’ll show you that you’ve had a diligent pupil just now. I’ll follow your own methods and you’ll criticise my efforts.”
Freddie uttered some protesting noises, but she took no notice.
“First, there’s Mrs. Caistor Scorton. She had an opportunity of stealing the Talisman. What about motive? I understand she’s plenty of money. She’d hardly be tempted by that. No motive? Then shall we agree to pass Mrs. Caistor Scorton? Very good.”
Her voice grew slightly acid.
“Then there’s Mr. Stickney. Opportunity? The same as Mrs. Caistor Scorton’s. Motive?” She turned on him swiftly. “You’re hard up, aren’t you, Mr. Stickney? Yes? So I’ve heard people say. People do talk, don’t they? Well, then, what do you say about Mr. Stickney’s case? He had the opportunity. He had a motive, we’ll say. And he admitted last night that he was up and about just at the very time when the Talisman was stolen. Pass Mr. Stickney? Well . . . hardly, I think. He’d better go back for further examination, hadn’t he?”
Her laugh had a sarcastic ring in Freddie’s ears. But before he had time to interrupt her, she had passed on down her list.
“Now for the Dangerfields. All of them have opportunity. What about motive? (You see how apt a pupil I am, don’t you?) So far as the two old people go, there’s no motive. They have the Talisman already; they don’t need to steal it. Then there’s Helga. Her fiancé’s big game shooting in Africa just now. She’s going to get married when he comes back. Big game shooting costs money. I happen to know that he has plenty. Helga wouldn’t need to steal the Talisman. Pass Helga Dangerfield, I think.”
She glanced ironically at Freddie, who was somewhat mystified by the turn of the examination.
“That’s the whole list, except for Eric Dangerfield. Do you happen to have picked up anything about him, Mr. Stickney?”
Freddie seemed to feel that his reputation as an authority was at stake. His beady eyes took on a meditative expression as he ran over his memory for information.