“What did I tell you?” Brett glanced triumphantly at Douglas. “I’m afraid, though I’m morally certain of Captain Lane’s guilt, that we will have some difficulty in establishing the fact.”
“You will,” agreed Colonel Thornton. “So far you have only proved, first, that there was enmity between the two men; second, that Lane had the opportunity; third, that Annette saw him with the letter file, the weapon used to kill Carew, in his hand.”
“The last has not been sworn to,” objected Douglas, “and Annette is dead, so that statement, the most important of all, cannot be accepted as testimony.”
“Unless some one else saw Lane in the street at the time Annette did,” burst in Brett swiftly, resuming his seat.
“If they had they would have come forward before this,” reasoned Douglas. “I consider it extremely probable that Annette was lying when she said she saw a letter file in Lane’s hand. Remember the drenching rain; walking in what proved almost a cloudburst would make most people blind to so small a thing as a letter file carried in a man’s closed fist.”
“What on earth was her object in making such a statement?” asked Colonel Thornton.
“That is what we have yet to find out,” answered Douglas. “And there’s another point, Brett, which you have overlooked.”
“What’s that?”
“You recollect that you told me Senator Carew’s clothes were absolutely dry when his dead body was found in the carriage. Considering the downpour of rain that night, it seems incredible that he should not have got wet.”