“I took it for granted that she was talking either of racing or of some speculation she was mixed up in. She had a lot of queer people in tow, bookies and the sort of shady-looking men who are supposed to be something in the city. Looked like criminals, most of them, and I told her so, more than once. But I dare say they were harmless enough, really. I met her once in Paris with a man she told me was a well-known French bookie and I wouldn’t have trusted him alone in a room with my purse. They fleeced her a lot, one way and another.”
“There was nothing among her papers that pointed to any big transaction?”
Miss Allen shook her head.
“I went through them carefully yesterday. There was nothing. As I said, I don’t believe John Leslie had anything to do with this and I should like to see him cleared, but I am not so heartless as I may have sounded. I don’t say that we got on well together, but she was my sister, when all’s said and done, and I find myself regretting many things now. Perhaps if I had taken the trouble I might have been of some influence in her life. I don’t know. But I should like to see the man who did this brought to book.”
Her voice was wrung with emotion and Kean could see that she had been tried more hardly than she realized in the past few days.
“I don’t think I had ever understood the strength of blood-relationship until I saw her lying in that horrible place at Whitbury,” she muttered almost inaudibly.
Kean waited in silence. There seemed nothing he could say. She pulled herself together with a pluck that roused his admiration and turned to him.
“I’m afraid I’ve helped you very little,” she said regretfully.
“I’m not so sure. Anything may turn out to be important in a case like this. In the meantime, I am more than grateful to you, Miss Allen, for your frankness. Cynthia will no doubt see you very soon and thank you herself. In view of the fact that she may have to appear at the inquest this afternoon I considered it better that she should not be known to have been in touch with you. She saw my point; otherwise she would have come in answer to your note this morning.”
Miss Allen nodded.