Winter watched him with quiet agony. He had never noticed the signs before.
“Mr. Okasaki did not tell you what these scratches meant?” inquired the barrister.
“No. He did not see them.”
“Sure?”
“Quite positive. Of course, it is very smart on your part to hit upon them so quickly, but what possible purpose can it serve to find out the meaning of something carved in Japan more than fifty years ago, at the very least?”
“I do not know. It is very stupid of me, I admit, but I have not the faintest notion.”
“Does it make the finding of Okasaki more important?”
“To a certain extent. We want to have everything explained. At present we have so little of what I regard as really definite evidence.”
“May I ask what that little is?”
“Sir Alan Hume-Frazer was murdered with a knife produced by a man like David Hume, whom ‘Rabbit Jack’ saw standing beneath the yews. Not much, eh?”