“If you imagine,” said Lord Charles, “that the police are to be checked by a childish trick of this sort, you are…” He paused and with a deflated air added hurriedly: “you simply couldn’t be more mistaken.”
“What about fingerprints?” said Frid.
“I didn’t touch anything,” said Colin.
“I kept my hands in my p-pocket,” said Stephen.
“Whichever it was, must have worked the lift,” Frid pointed out.
“The lift’s been used twice since then,” said Stephen.
“Twice, at least,” said Colin. “There won’t be any fingerprints worth talking about.”
“At any moment now,” Henry said, “Alleyn will come in and begin to ask questions. As soon as he sees what you are up to he’ll talk to you separately. If you think you’ve one sickly misbegotten hope of taking him in, you’re bigger bloody fools than anybody outside a bug-house.”
“Mummy’ll be back in a minute,” said Frid. “Don’t let’s have this going on when she comes in.”
Lord Charles said: “Stephen, did you commit this crime?”