wait a few minutes for a taxi—that train is
always very full. It was actually nearly a
quarter to five (five minutes after you had
seen the man in the garden) when he left the
170
station and it is a ten-minute drive. He paid
off the taxi at the gate here at about five
minutes to five at the earliest. No–it wasn’t
Lancelot Fortescue you saw.”
“I’m sure I did see someone.”
“Yes, you saw someone. It was getting
dark. You couldn’t have seen the man
clearly?”
“Oh no–I couldn’t see his face or anything
like that–just his build–tall and slender. We
were expecting Lancelot Fortescue–so I
jumped to the conclusion that that’s who it
was.”
“He was going–which way?”
“Along behind the yew hedge towards the
east side of the house.”
“There is a side door there. Is it kept
locked?”
“Not until the house is locked up for the
night.”
“Anyone could have come in by that side
door without being observed by any of the
household.”
Mary Dove considered.
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