“I remember,” nodded Landis soberly. The gloves and Graham’s pallor had already convinced him.
“In return for the trust fund, Graham no doubt promised Harrison to keep the whole thing a secret from his wife and everyone, including, of course, the fact that Miss Mount was the mother. Harrison must have heaved a sigh of relief and decided that he had got off light. For the skeleton in his cupboard was buried under a married name!
“But Harrison was hale and hearty. Probably he’d live another twenty years, years which Graham proposed to enjoy. So early last week our young friend, here, decided to go the whole hog. And he cast about for some safe method to murder Harrison and get the trust fund!”
“Murder him! Good God, Bernard, are you trying to pin this thing on me? You mean to say you’d do a vile, cruel thing like that to save your face—because the case has beaten you?”
Bernard nodded grimly.
“Just so!”
He turned back to Landis.
“The fact that all the household shot with bows and arrows gave him his cue. He planned to shoot Harrison with a bow and arrow in some way. Probably he had noticed the Japanese bow and considered that.
“On Tuesday, Joel asked Russell, Allen and the two girls into his den. He did not include the Grahams. Yet Graham described the den to us that first night, so he must have been in there!
“Shooting up on the third floor that Tuesday afternoon, Joel or somebody probably mentioned cross-bows. Another cue for Graham! In such a weapon he saw a more certain method of killing Harrison. With an ordinary bow he might miss. Within the next twenty-four hours he sneaked into the den, selected that cross-bow, found an opportunity to test it on the third floor with a Japanese arrow, noticed the bit of feather, planted it on Stimson to furnish another misleading clue and so improved on his original idea. But remembering the Japanese bow, he arranged that to look as if it had been used instead.