Page:Chipperfield--Unseen Hands.djvu/215

Rh noted the change which came over the face of the injured man at his query.

"He said that my theory presupposed what he called an inside job; and the thought that suspicion should be directed against any of the family was too monstrous to be borne. I couldn't force myself to consider such a hideous possibility, great as was my inner conviction that those deaths were more than accidental. Then Gene came in with the letter, and the picture fell. After I saw the severed ends of the wire cable which had held it in place I knew that there could be no more dodging of the issue, no matter what it might bring to all of us."

"Until then you had absolutely nothing to sustain that conviction except what Mrs. Lorne had said in that last conversation with her? Nothing tangible, I mean. There were no circumstances connected with the death of your step-son which you considered suspicious, save the fact itself following so closely upon your wife's death?"

"Nothing. Julian was in a highly nervous condition. He had gashed himself badly only a day or two before while trying to shave, owing to the uncontrollable tremor of his hands. What proof have you, Sergeant, that he was murdered?"

A knock upon the door and the entrance of Doctor Adams saved Odell from the necessity of a reply, and with a promise to return later for a further conference he withdrew.

He was starting downstairs when the sound of Rannie's high, whining voice from the library made him pause. Now would be as good a time as any to examine the cripple's collection of medical books.