“I say, though,” expostulated Horace, “my sister’s awfully upset, you know. Is it absolutely necessary?”
“Aye, sir, it is!” said the Inspector. “But there’s no need for me to see her in here. Perhaps in some other room ...”
“The drawing-room is next to this,” the butler put in; “they’d be nice and quiet in there, Sir Horace.”
The Inspector acquiesced. Dr. Redstone drew him aside for a whispered colloquy.
The Inspector came back to Robin and Horace.
“The doctor would like to have the body taken upstairs to Mr. Parrish’s room,” he said. “He wishes to make a more detailed examination if Dr. Romain would help him. If one of you gentlemen could give orders about this ... I have two officers outside who would lend a hand. And this room must then be shut and locked. Sergeant Harris!” he called.
“Sir!”
A stout sergeant appeared at the library door.
“As soon as the body has been removed, you will lock the room and bring the key to me. And you will return here and see that no one attempts to get into the room. Understand?”
“Yessir!”