“I’m afraid it must seem very impertinent of me to be asking questions about it, but the thing is of importance. I think I’d better tell you the whole situation. You’ll have heard, of course, this sad news about poor old Brotherhood, at Paston Whitchurch?” “I read about it, of course, in the paper.” “Well, one or two of his friends, that is, of people who knew him down at the club, aren’t quite satisfied with the line the police have taken about it. They think—we think they swallowed the idea of suicide too easily, without examining all the facts; and—well, the thing we can’t feel certain of is that there hasn’t been foul play.” “Foul play? But why should anybody . . .” “Oh, we’ve no suspicion of any motive. We thought, perhaps, that was where you might help us. It was I and some friends of mine who actually found the body, you know, and there were certain indications which suggested to us that Brotherhood had . . . had been murdered. There was the position of his hat, for example—still, we needn’t go into all that. We did entertain the suspicion very strongly, only the clues we had at our disposal weren’t sufficient to let us follow up our suspicions, if you see what I mean. The only one which we felt might help us to get any further was this photograph. By a mere accident, for which I’m not responsible, it didn’t get into the hands of the police.” “The police know nothing about it?” “We have no reason to think they do. But it was found in Brotherhood’s pocket—at least, it was found in circumstances which made it quite clear that it had fallen out of his pocket, when the . . . when his body was being moved.” Miss Rendall-Smith took another look at the portrait, which still lay in her hands. “Then,” she said, “what exactly do you want me to do about it?” “Well, you must understand, of course, that we are very reluctant to open up any subject which may be painful to you. But at the same time, since it seemed likely that you had some knowledge of Brotherhood’s history and circumstances which the world at large doesn’t share, we thought perhaps you would tell us whether you can form any guess yourself as to the circumstances of his death. To put it in the concrete, do you know of any one who would have a motive for wishing ill to Brotherhood, or who might be likely to take his life?” “I see. You want me to help justice. But you want me to help you, not the police.”