“I am therefore eliminated, at any rate to my own satisfaction.” His tone was still angry, as if he inwardly resented Lane’s rather lukewarm attitude. “There is only left this young man whom I have treated as a son, whom I have loaded with benefits, whom I have preserved from the consequences of his criminal acts, his dastardly ingratitude to me. He alone, beyond myself, knew the secret of this safe’s mechanism, therefore he alone could open it, unless, which of course is possible, he employed a confederate whom he took into his confidence. Is that common-sense or not, Mr. Lane?” he concluded in a slightly calmer tone.
“Perfectly common-sense so far as it carries us, Mr. Morrice,” was the detective’s judicial reply.
“So far as it carries us,” cried Morrice with a slight return of his previous explosive manner. “I do not understand you.”
Lane smiled. It was a slightly superior smile, prompted by the thought that these clever business men, excellent and keen as they were in their own pursuits, did not exhibit that logical mind which is the great equipment of a trained investigator.
“By that expression I mean simply this, that when you definitely assume Mr. Croxton’s guilt you are acting on the presumption that nobody but you and he knows the secret of this mechanism. Can you prove that?”
“Of course I can’t prove it in a way that might satisfy you, but I do know that I have never told anybody else. There is of course the maker,” he added sarcastically. “Perhaps you are including him in your calculations.”
“I think I will consent readily to his elimination,” replied Lane in his quiet, not unhumorous way. “Now, Mr. Morrice, we will discuss this matter without heat. I am now employed by you as well as Mr. Croxton, and I have only one object in view. But I must conduct my investigation in my own way, and I want to go a little deeper than we have yet gone.”
Morrice was impressed by the grave authoritative manner of the man; he showed a strong touch of that quality which we notice in eminent judges, successful barristers and all properly qualified members of the legal profession, a patient pursuit of facts, a strongly developed power of deduction from whatever facts are presented, a keen faculty of analysis.
“Now, Mr. Morrice, I shall ask you a question or two for my own enlightenment. From the little you have explained to me, the mechanism of this safe is extremely complicated. Did you and Mr. Croxton carry all the details of it in your heads, or had you some written memorandum of its working to refer to in case of a temporary lapse of memory?”
Morrice was quick enough immediately to see the drift of that question, and his manner changed at once. “Thank you for that suggestion, Mr. Lane; I fear I have shown a little impatience. For all practical purposes, we did carry it in our heads, but I have in my possession, as you surmise, a written key to which reference could be made in the event of our requiring an elaborate combination.”