"That is the instrument with which the wound must have been made," he remarked in a subdued tone. "It was found lying beside the body."
Henshaw took it up and ran his eyes over it. "How could he have got this?" he demanded, looking round with what seemed a distrustful glance.
"I can only suggest," Morriston answered, "that one of my men must have left it when some work was done here a few days ago."
"That is so apparently, Mr. Morriston," the detective corroborated. "It has been identified by Haynes, the estate carpenter."
Henshaw put down the chisel and for some moments kept silence, tightening his thin lips as though in strenuous thought. Then suddenly he demanded, "Beyond the fact that the door was found locked from within, what reason have you for your conclusion?"
Mr. Finch shrugged. "We don't see how it could be otherwise, sir," he replied with quiet conviction. "Clearly the deceased gentleman must have been alone in the room when he died."
"Might he not have locked the door after the wound was given?" Henshaw suggested in a tone of cross-examination.
"Dr. Page was of opinion that death, or at any rate unconsciousness, must have been almost instantaneous," Finch rejoined respectfully.
"Even supposing the autopsy bears out that view I shall not be satisfied," Henshaw declared.
The inspector took up the argument.