It was no difficult matter to follow the marks of the heavy boots. In the soft soil, which had formerly been part of a flower-bed, they were quite distinct. Even on the grass beyond the flower-bed the impressions were visible, though not so distinctly. Eventually they reached the gravel-walk which skirted the front of the house, and here the traces were lost.
“I should say that the boots which made these marks are the ordinary heavy type worn by farm-hands and fishermen in this locality,” said Crewe.
“No doubt,” answered Inspector Payne. “But, though there are some hundreds of men in this locality who wear the same type of boot, the number of pairs of boots absolutely the same are small. That is particularly the case with these heavy nailed boots—the positions of some of the nails vary. A cast of three or four of the best of these impressions will narrow down the circle of our investigations. What do you say, Gillett?”
“It looks to me as if it is going to be a comparatively simple affair.”
Inspector Payne turned to Marsland.
“I think you said you found the door open, Mr. Marsland. Do you mean wide open or partly closed?”
“I found it wide open,” replied Marsland. “I thought at the time that it had not been properly closed and that the wind had blown it open.”
“That means that the murderer got in through this window and left by the door,” said Inspector Payne to Detective Gillett. “He left it open when he fled.”
“But what about Westaway’s theory that he was in the house when Mr. Marsland came here?” asked Gillett. “What about the crash Mr. Marsland heard when the picture fell down? What about the plan of the hidden money that disappeared after Mr. Marsland left?”
It was plain that Detective Gillett, who had to investigate the crime, was not in sympathy with Inspector Payne’s method of solving difficult points by ignoring them.