"None that I can think of, and I fear the local police will be able to add no information that can assist you." "They are the usual not too intelligent country bobbies, I suppose?" "Quite so," said Simon. "In that case," asked Mr. Carrington, still in his easy voice, but with a quick turn of his eyeglass towards the lawyer, "why was no outside assistance called in at once?" For a moment Simon Rattar's satisfaction with his visitor seemed to be diminished. He seemed, in fact, a little disconcerted, and his reply again became little more than a grunt. "Quite satisfied with them," seemed to be the reading of his answer. "Well," said Carrington, "no doubt you knew best, Mr. Rattar." His eyes thoughtfully followed the smoke of his cigarette upwards for a moment, and then he said: "That being so, my first step had better be to visit Keldale House and see whether it is still possible to find any small point the local professionals have overlooked." Mr. Rattar seemed to disapprove of this. "Nothing to discover," said he. "And they will know what you have come about." Mr. Carrington smiled. "I think, Mr. Rattar, that, on the whole, my appearance provokes no great amount of suspicion." "Your appearance, no," admitted Simon, "but--" "Well, if I go to Keldale armed with a card of introduction from you, to make enquiry about the shootings, I think I can undertake to turn the conversation on to other matters without exciting suspicion." "Conversation with whom?" enquired the lawyer sceptically. "I had thought of Mr. Bisset, the butler." "Oh--" began Mr. Rattar with a note of surprise, and then pulled himself up. "Yes," smiled Mr. Carrington, "I have picked up a little about the household. My friends of last night were exceedingly communicative--very gossipy indeed. I rather gather that omniscience is Mr. Bisset's foible, and that he is not averse from conversation." The look in Simon's eye seemed to indicate that his respect for this easy-going young man was increasing; though whether his liking for him was also increased thereby was not so manifest. His reply was again a mere grunt. "Well, that can easily be arranged," said Carrington, "and it is obviously the first thing to do." He blew a ring of smoke from his lips, skilfully sent a second ring in chase of it, and then turning his monocle again on the lawyer, enquired (though not in a tone that seemed to indicate any very acute interest in the question): "Who do you think yourself murdered Sir Reginald Cromarty?" XXIII SIMON'S VIEWS "Well," said Mr. Rattar deliberately, "I think myself that the actual evidence is very slight and extremely inclusive." "You mean the direct evidence afforded by the unfastened window, position of the body, table said to have been overturned, and so forth?" "Exactly. That evidence is slight, but so far as it goes it seems to me to point to entry by the door and to the man having been in the house for some little time previously."