Without giving his neighbour time to interrupt him, he hurried on to his revelation.
“I gathered that Eric couldn’t pay up that night, either. He was dunning his uncle for cash to square up with Morchard. Old Mr. Dangerfield wasn’t pleased. He said something about this being the last time. At any rate he said ‘last time’; but perhaps he was speaking of some other time, before that. He seemed very hot about it. Eric wasn’t looking very comfortable.”
“You seem to have heard a good deal,” said Mrs. Caistor Scorton, indifferently.
But Freddie hardly seemed to notice her aloofness. He was off on a fresh scent.
“I’d never thought of that,” he volunteered. “Of course, that throws a fresh light on things. Let’s see if we can put two and two together. Fact number one, he’s hard up. Fact number two, he’s a ne’er-do-well. Fact number three, he couldn’t pay Morchard that night. Number four, he may not have been able to persuade his uncle to pay. Number five, he did pay after the Talisman disappeared—I happen to know that. Problem, how did he manage to pay? Well, suppose he took the Talisman. He wouldn’t need to sell it. He could raise some cash on it easily enough, being a Dangerfield. He could get an advance and let them notify his uncle. Old Mr. Dangerfield would be forced to pay up in order to get the thing back. Or he might even simply hide the thing and blackmail his uncle for money—hold the Talisman to ransom, so to speak.”
“You have a wonderful imagination, Mr. Stickney. I hope you’ll go on looking into the whole affair. Perhaps you’ll be able to clear it up for us. It’s certainly been most unpleasant to feel that this cloud of suspicion is hanging over the place. You’ll do your best, I’m sure.”
Freddie tried to appear modest under this testimonial to his capacity.
“That’s what I’ve felt all along,” he admitted. “One really owes it to everyone to do one’s best to clear the thing up. It’s so awkward for all of us.”
Mrs. Caistor Scorton gave him what appeared to be a grateful glance. Then, with more interest than she had shown for some minutes, she put a direct question.
“Whom do you really suspect, Mr. Stickney?”