“Miss Sheldon, it is better you should not ask me too many questions till we are more sure of our ground. We experts require a great deal of evidence before we venture to say of any accused man that he is absolutely innocent or absolutely guilty.”
“But if the finger-marks are proved not to be his, how can he be guilty?” she cried obstinately.
“You force me to say what I would rather leave unsaid. But our investigations would not be very useful if we refused to weigh not only every probability, but also every possibility. You say that your uncle firmly believes in this young man’s guilt, although he loved him and treated him like a son. If he still maintains that belief, is it not open to him to say that if Richard Croxton was not the actual thief, he was an accomplice or an accessory? How otherwise could the actual thief have got the necessary knowledge of that safe’s complicated mechanism? Please understand I am not advancing this as my own opinion, but as one that might be entertained.”
And for the first time poor Rosabelle began to see how very hard was the task before them. The tears came into her eyes. “Oh, Mr. Lane, what will be wanted to prove his absolute innocence? I see too clearly the terrible difficulties in our way.”
The great detective spoke very gravely. “The surest way of proving Mr. Croxton’s innocence is by discovering beyond any possibility of doubt the person who opened that safe, and proving that that person, whoever it may be, had no connection with him. To that point my investigations will tend, with what results it is impossible for me to foresee.”
Mr. Morrice gave his permission for the detective’s visit more readily than Rosabelle had hoped. His attitude towards young Croxton now seemed to be more one of sorrow and disappointment than of the deep anger he had at first displayed. But he expressed to her his sense of the futility of the task on which she was engaged.
She thought she knew what was passing in his keen and analytical mind. Croxton was playing a game of bluff, perhaps for the purpose of establishing himself firmly in the esteem of his sweetheart. And if the finger-marks were those of somebody else, he would fall back on the theory that Gideon Lane had already anticipated.
With Richard, her task was easy. He gave an impression of his fingers without a moment’s hesitation, and Rosabelle carried it to Lane with a certain sense of triumph, which would have been complete but for those last damping words of the cautious detective.
In due course the visit was paid to the house in Deanery Street; Rosabelle and her uncle were present. Sure enough in addition to the recent finger-prints of Morrice and young Croxton, there was a third set, equally recent.
The development of the photographs proved that Croxton’s finger-prints were totally different from the third set. Lane announced his intention of taking them to Scotland Yard in order that a search might be made amongst their voluminous files.