“You didn’t come here to consult me, Mr. Fayre. You could have done that any day at Staveley. And I doubt if you took up bicycling for the sake of exercise. And that paint you got on your coat the other day was put there on purpose. Oh, I know it was paint, all right,” he cut in, as Fayre opened his mouth to speak. “I verified that, as you thought I should. I also discovered that you went straight from here to Stockley’s garage, as the result, I suppose, of something my man told you. He described you, by the way, as ‘a very chatty gentleman’! It was unfortunate for you that I paid my bill at Stockley’s that evening and had a word with him. Stockley is a chatty gentleman, too. The thing I want to know now is, what’s it all about?”
He had risen and was sitting on the edge of the writing-table, his hands in his pockets and his truculent eyes on Fayre’s.
“Leslie’s your friend, I understand, and I can only imagine that you’re working in his interests,” he went on. “I should like to mention that he’s also mine and that there’s nothing that would give me greater pleasure than to hear that he’s been cleared. That being the case, I should be obliged if you’d tell me your object in hanging about here and questioning my servants. Anything you wish to know I prefer to tell you myself.”
Fayre was silent for a moment. When he spoke he chose his words carefully, but it was evident from his whole bearing that he was saying frankly what was in his mind.
“I’m not sorry it’s come to this,” he said, meeting Gregg’s angry gaze squarely. “To tell you the truth, I’m not proud of the part I’ve been playing and it’s relief to me to come out into the open. In answer to your question, let me put one to you. Why have you concealed the fact that Mrs. Draycott was an old acquaintance of yours?”
The doctor’s eyes shifted ever so slightly. Evidently he was unprepared for so bold an attack.
“I had my own reasons,” he said curtly, “and I’m not accountable to you or any one else for them, at present, at any rate.”
“You admit that you did know her?”
“I admit nothing.”
“And if I tell you that I have proof that you not only knew her but were intimate with both her and her husband at one time?”