"They've got to stop believing this!" said Ned emphatically. XVII A SUGGESTION Next morning Simon Rattar was again informed that Mr. Cromarty of Stanesland wished to see him, and again the announcement seemed to be unwelcome. He was silent for several seconds before answering, and when he allowed Mr. Cromarty to be shown in, it was with an air which suggested the getting over a distasteful business as soon as possible. "Well, Mr. Cromarty?" he grunted brusquely. Mr. Cromarty never beat about the bush. "I've come to see you about this scandalous story that's going round." The lawyer glanced at the papers he had been busy with, as if to indicate that they were of more importance than scandals. "What story?" he enquired. "That Sir Malcolm and Miss Farmond were concerned in Sir Reginald's murder." There was something compelling in Ned's directness. Simon pushed aside the papers and looked at him fixedly. "Oh," he said. "They say that, do they?" "Haven't you heard?" Simon's grunt was non-committal. "Well anyway, this derned story is going about, and something's got to be done to stop it." "What do you suggest?" "Are you still working the case for all you know how?" Simon seemed to resent this enquiry a little. "I am the Procurator Fiscal. The police make the actual enquiries. They have done everything they could." "'They have done'? Do you mean that they have stopped looking for the murderer?" "Certainly not. They are still enquiring; not that it is likely to be much further use." There seemed to be a sardonic note in his last words that deepened Cromarty's frown and kindled his eye. "You mean to suggest that any conclusion has been reached?" "Nothing is absolutely certain," said Simon. Again the accent on the "absolutely" seemed to rouse his visitor's ire. "You believe this story, do you?" "If I _believed_ it, I should order an arrest. I have just told you nothing is absolutely certain." "Look here," said Cromarty, "I don't want to crab Superintendent Sutherland or his men, but you want to get somebody better than them on to this job." Though the Procurator Fiscal kept his feelings well in hand, it was evident that this suggestion struck him more unfavourably than anything his visitor had said yet. He even seemed for one instant to be a little startled by its audacity. "I disagree," he muttered. "Now don't you take offence, Mr. Rattar," said Ned with a sudden smile. "I'm not aiming this at you, but, hang it, you know as well as I do that Sutherland is no great shakes at detection. They are all just country bobbies. What we want is a London detective." Simon seemed to have recovered his equanimity during this speech. He shook his head emphatically, but his voice was as dispassionately brusque as ever. "London detective? Much over-rated people, I assure you. No use in a case of this kind." "The very kind of case a real copper-bottomed expert would be some use in!"