They went into the inn, and while Bill made himself pleasant to the landlady, Antony went upstairs to his room.  It appeared that he had not very much packing to do, after all.  He returned his brushes to his bag, glanced sound to see that nothing else had been taken out, and went down again to settle his bill.  He had decided to keep on his room for a few days; partly to save the landlord and his wife the disappointment of losing a guest so suddenly, partly in case he found it undesirable later on to remain at the Red House.  For he was taking himself seriously as a detective; indeed, he took himself seriously (while getting all the fun out of it which was possible) at every new profession he adopted; and he felt that there might come a time after the inquest, say when he could not decently remain at the Red House as a guest, a friend of Bill’s, enjoying the hospitality of Mark or Cayley, whichever was to be regarded as his host, without forfeiting his independent attitude towards the events of that afternoon.  At present he was staying in the house merely as a necessary witness, and, since he was there, Cayley could not object to him using his eyes; but if, after the inquest, it appeared that there was still work for a pair of independent and very keen eyes to do, then he must investigate, either with his host’s approval or from beneath the roof of some other host; the landlord of ‘The George,’ for instance, who had no feelings in the matter.

For of one thing Antony was certain.  Cayley knew more than he professed to know.  That is to say, he knew more than he wanted other people to know he knew.  Antony was one of the “other people”; if, therefore, he was for trying to find out what it was that Cayley knew, he could hardly expect Cayley’s approval of his labours.  It would be ‘The George,’ then, for Antony after the inquest.

What was the truth?  Not necessarily discreditable to Cayley, even though he were hiding something.  All that could be said against him at the moment was that he had gone the longest way round to get into the locked office and that this did not fit in with what he had told the Inspector.  But it did fit in with the theory that he had been an accessory after the event, and that he wanted (while appearing to be in a hurry) to give his cousin as much time as possible in which to escape.  That might not be the true solution, but it was at least a workable one.  The theory which he had suggested to the Inspector was not.

However, there would be a day or two before the inquest, in which Antony could consider all these matters from within The Red House.  The car was at the door.  He got in with Bill, the landlord put his bag on the front seat next to the chauffeur, and they drove back.

CHAPTER VIII

“Do You Follow Me, Watson?”