“Those two,” said Kent slowly, “know the identity of the body. For good and sufficient reasons, they are keeping that information to themselves. Those reasons we aren’t likely to find out from them.”
“Murderer has bribed ’em,” opined Bain.
“Possibly. But that presupposes that the sheriff found something on the body which led him to the murderer, which isn’t likely. How improbable it is that a murderer—allowing, for argument, that there has been murder—who would go as far as to cover his trail and the nature of the crime by binding the body on a grating, would overlook anything like a letter incriminating himself!”
“What did the sheriff find, then, in the dead woman’s pocket?”
“Perhaps a handkerchief with a distinctive mark.”
“And that would lead him to the identity of the body?”
“Presumably. Also to some one, we may assume, who was willing to pay roundly to have that identity concealed.”
“That would naturally be the murderer, wouldn’t it?” asked Sedgwick.
“No. I don’t think so.”
“It looks to me so,” said the lawyer. “He’s the one naturally interested in concealment.”